Mary J. Blige

“I care about me now. When I didn't care about me, I was, like, 'Why is this going wrong? Why is my life so bad?' But when you don't care about yourself, nobody else is going to care about you. So I learned to love myself, even if nobody else does.”

“Believe in yourself when nobody else does.”

“I don't know. Only God knows where the story ends for me, but I know where the story begins. It's up to us to choose, whether we win or lose and I choose to win.”

“I just want fans to walk away knowing that no matter what's going on, no matter how happy you are, no matter how sad you are, we did it. We're strong in this. We've come a long way, and life is not just one thing.”

“When I was little, like 7 to 15, there was nothing I wanted to do but go to church and go to school.”

“I cannot save the world; that's not what I'm trying to do. I guess I'm just trying to walk the walk and be an example to those that want it. Not everybody does, but if Mary J. Blige can come out of that same hole you were in, then you can do it, too - that's my goal: to do that without saying it, but actually live it.”

“My journey continues, because I've, you know, conquered a lot. And I know how to conquer the rest.”

“As a kid, I was in love with Michael Jackson, and I just knew I was going to marry him someday.”

“I don't listen to people's opinions. I have people around me who I can trust, but most of all I listen to myself.”

“I can tell you I didn't feel good when I could not articulate properly. Getting my GED was important and I want other women to feel that.”

“It's not just songs and glamour. It's sweat, blood, broken toes, and mistakes... It's life.”

“When someone comes up to me and says, 'Mary, you helped save my marriage', or, 'Mary, you helped me get out of this abusive relationship', I'm in it, really in their lives. And I'm so passionate about my feelings, but also about showing people the way through theirs.”

“When life is real, it's not going to be smooth.”

“I believe that anything man himself can do for me, God can do for me in a greater way. I decided to pray and to seek God on my own. I just stayed in The Word. And it worked.”

“I still get nervous about singing. I drink tea with honey and lemon before every concert. And I need to have scented candles in all of my hotel rooms.”

“I grew up watching MTV, when Journey was huge, when Pat Benatar had 'Love Is a Battlefield,' and my friends and I used to cut school to watch this woman in the video. We loved Pat Benatar.”

“'My Life' is soft, with notes of pear and gardenia, but still bold, with a woody base.”

“I listen to gospel music.”

“I hated myself for so many reasons, and I thought so many things were my fault that happened to me growing up.”

“Two hurt people can not help each other. They can not.”