Top 88 Mary J. Blige Quotes

It’s OK showing yourself some love.

For the first time in my life, I’m proud of myself.

When you come from so many damaged places you don’t ever want to spiral back there, so you gotta continue to check yourself.

I suffered from self hatred so much. It’s like I didn’t want to look like that any more. I didn’t to feel like that any more. It had to be another way.

I have to have lemon and honey. I have to have apple cider vinegar, Braggs. And I have to have either Red Vines or Twizzlers. These things, you know, are the things that help my vocal performance.

My responsibility to God is to live. That’s the gift he gave me.

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 have as many bad days as anyone. But I choose to say, ‘I’m just fine.’

This music business can suck all the love out of you, all the compassion for people – you can start to think you’re better than them. But I want to continue to let people know that I’m no better and no worse, I’m just like you.

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.

I’m a singer who thinks like a rapper.

You can hate me. You can go out there and say anything you want about me, But you will love me later because I told you the truth.

God comes first – if I don’t love him, I can’t love anybody, and if I can’t love me I can’t love nobody.

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

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.

If you’re not confident in yourself, you’re going to waver. I’ve wavered, and I’ve lost.

People know what they see but they don’t know what’s happening inside. If you want to know who you are and how you feel about yourself, take a look at your environment.

I remember a time when all my fans were crying and sad and going through hell. Now, we’re trying to uplift each other and accept ourselves for who we are, even if nobody else does.

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

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.

If I’m going to be the best in what I do, I have to study what I’m doing, I have to see what I’m doing. I have to see it, I have to hear it. I’m just starting to appreciate myself – not starting, but appreciating myself in a way where I can look at myself back in a movie or listen to myself as much as I do now.

There’s not enough time to be disrespecting… Life is too short.

Believe in yourself when nobody else does.

Without your health, everything else means nothing.

I started speaking about what I was dealing with through my music, and 4 million women responded and said, ‘Us too, Mary.’ And I didn’t know that everyone was hurting like I was hurting. I had no idea.

One day I realized that I wasn’t getting anywhere by blaming other people for my circumstances. I finally understood: Even if you feel someone has wronged you or owes you something, no one is going to give you anything for free.

I’m a child of God. God is my mommy, my daddy. That’s the only thing that’ll keep my head up. If I don’t remember who I am in him, I’m done.

I like to do interior design, I love to quilt, I love to see different colors together, and I love to match things up.

I don’t think there’s anything they can say about me that I haven’t said about myself already. And I would be an absolute total liar, and my fans would not respect me, if I said that my life and my marriage are perfect. But we absolutely love each other; we have fun together – it’s great.

I don’t have any health problems, but to keep your health improves your quality of life.

You can look at my palm and see the storm coming. Read the book of my life and see I’ve overcome it.

You know a lot, but you don’t know everything.

If you’re here right now in your life, your journey continues and you’ve lived to tell the story.

My God is a God who wants me to have things. He wants me to bling. He wants me to be the hottest thing on the block.

I think women should band together to get us more respect in all the businesses that we’re in because, you know, if we turn 40, we’re nothing and nobody. We all should band together and just say we’re not gonna go down like that.

I’m from the element of the streets that says that once you’ve made it, it’s yours. But keep it to yourself.

It was only for two years, and I jumped from family to family. It’s very scary.

I just love food, period.

I do consider myself part of black history.

When you tell your truth, you are coming from a real place, so you are automatically a leader.

I like French fries; I like mashed. I love potatoes.

When you know what pain is, and when you have to make a choice, you learn that it is a decision. People think it’s a fairytale thing, love and happiness, but you have to work hard. And then – you feel it deeply.

It hurts a lot when you cannot really comprehend what a person is saying in a meeting, or you don’t even understand what you’re reading in your contract.

I wouldn’t adopt, but what I will do is give my time and go and try to be there for people.

My first album is playful.

I never do any album to beat it. I do it to extend it.

If we didn’t have understanding of our journey, we wouldn’t be able to go on. We’d be stuck, like, ‘Why me?’

Sometimes I frown and I don’t realise it.

As long as I live, I know I’ll have feelings. And that’s what I’m passionate about.

When life is real, it’s not going to be smooth.

I didn’t know how to show my self love, and I didn’t want anyone else to hurt me. So my tough girl attitude was like, ‘I’m not having it.’

When I was a child I didn’t care about getting an education, and I didn’t finish high school.

It’s not just songs and glamour. It’s sweat, blood, broken toes, and mistakes… It’s life.

Yonkers made me strong and made me believe in myself, because so many people would doubt you and not believe. There are people that would believe in you, but the environment was so harsh, nobody wanted you to get out, you know?

Even if you feel someone has wronged you or owes you something, no one is going to give you anything for free.

When I was a kid, I needed to sing because it makes me feel good about myself. It makes me feel good, period.

I believe there are certain things that God uses to get us out of a bad situation, and I believe music was one of the things he used for me.

I’ve just been growing right along. It’s painful, but it’s a great pain, and I like suffering for great results. It’s like going to the gym. It hurts really bad at first, but after a couple of months and after that diet, you’re looking so hot.

So many people are like, ‘I’m perfect.’ I’m so imperfect; that’s why I’m able to let everything out and let people see everything. ‘Cause I’m just a mess like every other person that’s a mess out there.

I like hanging out with me, and I’ve accepted everything about me good, bad whatever it is. That’s why I’m able to, that’s why no one can tell me anything negative about myself.

You either learn from your experiences or go back and do the same thing, and I learned from my experiences.

Growing up, I was the preferred hairstylist for all of my friends.

Larry David makes me laugh.

I’ve never been a mean person.

I’ve been praying to God to show me how to forgive myself. Because… maybe… that’s the thing I’ve been searching for.

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 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.

I’m striving toward this acting thing. I’m definitely gonna work hard on that, whatever comes my way, I’m gonna work hard on it.

You demand respect and you’ll get it. First of all, you give respect.

I don’t know what kind of God the rest of y’all are serving, but the God I serve says, ‘Mary, you need to be the hottest thing this year, and I’m gonna make sure you’re doing that.’

I wish I had an extra day with my mom sometimes. Or another hour in the day with my family, husband and children.

When you wake up and learn to love yourself and want to take care of yourself, things are harder because people don’t like the idea of it. But when you get in trouble, it gives people things to talk about.

Really, every woman is an example to me, because as women we go through so much pain. We have to live this perfect life when we are messed up inside. We all go through trials and tribulations.

I believe there should be no more drama, but it’s everywhere you go. It’s just about how you get out. You’ve gotta bob and weave because it’s everywhere. How do I keep the drama low? It’s about using your head.

I barely have time for my own children. To adopt more children and not have time for them, that would be poor parenting on my part.

There’s so many things that life is, and no matter how many breakthroughs, trials will exist and we’re going to get through it. Just be strong.

Just don’t let the hype of what people are saying and how much they love you, y’know, just take the compliment and be thankful that people are complimenting you, but don’t let it consume you; don’t let your circumstances around you and the way people view you make you act a certain way.

I truly enjoy Bono. I think he is an amazing person; I love him.

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.

My main exercise is cardio. The treadmill is fine, but running outdoors gives me the best results. I try to log 6 to 8 miles a week. I could be in the worst mood, but when I do my cardio, I feel much, much better.

I felt ashamed about everything. Me dropping out of high school, me not, you know, just not being beautiful enough. I just didn’t feel like I was smart enough or beautiful enough, you know, for years.

When you finally understand who you are, ages 6 through 60 will understand who you are. Because when they see a person that’s come through all that I’ve come through, still standing, it’s amazing.

I listen to gospel music.

I’m on my way to a place where I’d never dreamed I’d be, and that’s perfection.

I don’t think I’ll do foster care or adopt, to be quite honest.

I was inspired to create ‘My Life’ so I could finally share a personal part of my life beyond my music.

I’m my worst critic, and I like the fact that I can listen to myself now and make fun of myself, listen, make changes – ‘Oh, man, that’s messed up. Okay, I need to work on that; I need to work on this.’

It’s challenging to find an identity as a young person if you don’t have the sustenance of love, because you’re being shipped around.