Top 40 Mariah Carey Quotes

My mother is Irish, my father is black and Venezuelan, and me – I’m tan, I guess.

I’ve seen the real extreme diva behaviour and I don’t think that’s who I am.

I don’t think anyone knows as much about what’s right for me as I do.

My father identified as a black man. No one asked him because he was clearly black. But people always ask me. If we were together, people would look at us in a really strange way. It sucked. As a little girl I had blond hair and they’d look at me, look at him, and be disgusted.

I think that for me, personally, a lot of my choices have been to do with my own issues of not feeling safe as a child and feeling a sense of stability.

My brother and sister had a much worse childhood, I think, because they were older, and they had to deal with a lot more racism because they grew up in the ’70s and I grew up more in the ’80s. So they had to deal with crosses being burned on their lawn and their dogs being poisoned.

I do not think I reinvent myself. Wearing my hair differently or changing my style of dress is playing dress-up. I don’t take it too seriously.

Pregnancy was probably the best and the hardest thing I’ll ever go through. I know for a lot of women, it can be wonderful and relatively easy.

My fans have made all my career moments special for me. They are the ones that have gotten me through every single thing – good times and bad, they are who I go to and lean on. I am very thankful for that.

I’m not one of those people that goes into details of my personal life on national TV to get attention. Some things are better left unsaid.

I always felt like the rug could be pulled out from under me at anytime. And coming from a racially mixed background, I always felt like I didn’t really fit in anywhere.

Some of us talk about other people and what they do and la la la. But I’m not that person.

I’d rather be onstage with a pig – a duet with Jennifer Lopez and me just ain’t going to happen.

I’m very hard on myself and I have too many issues.

I think certain people like to torture me because they think I’ve had it easier than I actually have and they think: ‘Oh, she’s got this, she’s got that, she’s always had everything perfect,’ and it’s sooo not true.

I hope to be around past the 90’s. I don’t want to just be categorized as one of this era. My goal is to have a career that stands.

I definitely feel more complete than before. There’s a void you have when you don’t feel you’ve found the other part of who you are, so I’m in a different place now and that’s nice to experience.

This is for all of you out there tonight, reaching for a dream – don’t ever give up! Never ever listen to anyone, when they try to discourage you, because they do that, believe me!

I wrote my own anthem: it’s called ‘Mariah’s Theme.’ It’s on the ‘Rainbow’ album from ’99. Back in the day.

You really just want to know that somebody loves you for you. Sometimes you feel like an ATM machine with a wig on it.

Especially since I started studying acting, I feel like I’m always super-aware of my emotions and my feelings and what’s going on with me at every moment. I definitely think I wasn’t very present prior to that.

I’m actually very loyal, to my detriment.

I understand people want to hold on to their roots.

Forget the image, forget the ensemble, forget the rumours, forget the short skirts, the big hair, whatever! I owe this to the fans and I will never forget you so I want to accept this award on behalf of all of you.

I arrange flowers in my spare time. Well, when I have spare time, that is.

Prince was one of the best people I’ve met. He didn’t care about the big system. I was always like, at any time, Prince could write a No. 1 song because he’s that talented, but he chooses to do what he wants. I respect that. He actually helped me through a lot of situations with his knowledge.

I work myself into the ground. But I think I’m a nice friend and a good person, and I try to do my work as best I can.

People are like, ‘What is your whole obsession with butterflies?’ I’m like, ‘I’m not obsessed. I like them. Can’t anybody like something?’

I really rebel against authority.

There is a light at the end of the tunnel… hopefully its not a freight train!

A lot of rappers don’t have to go through what I had to go through as a singer. I was always in a bubble that they put me in, but I was always punching out. It was a tough line to walk.

The best part of making music, for me, is collaborating and working with new people and fresh sounds and all those things that gets people excited to continue in this business that we all love so much.

I never thought that I would have love again, but it’s amazing how the universe brings love to you.

I’ve seen other artists put out movies that went straight to DVD, and no one cared. Maybe their own fans bought the thing, and that was fine.

I’m not Gloria Steinem, but I mean, I’m definitely all for powerful women.

The fans never send me crazy things. They send me things that they put so much time and effort into making, and they are so amazing.

But I think I’m a nice friend and a good person, and I try to do my work as best I can.

I love the grimiest rappers in the world. That’s my favorite.

I don’t think there were great beauty trends in the ’90s – I was just doing my own thing.

People are constantly asking me if I’m pregnant, but I don’t like to talk about it too much. I just think about it as the next phase. We’ll see.