When you come from so many damaged places you don’t ever want to spiral back there, so you gotta continue to check yourself. – Mary J. Blige
I’ve done well, I’ve been disappointed, and I think it all goes back to you. Of course the labels are going to be the labels. It’s the music business. You are a business. That’s what they do. So you’ve got to protect yourself. – Mary J. Blige
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. – Mary J. Blige
Even if you feel someone has wronged you or owes you something, no one is going to give you anything for free. – Mary J. Blige
I believe this generation should know their history and they should know that the struggle’s not over yet. – Mary J. Blige
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. – Mary J. Blige
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.’ – Mary J. Blige
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. – Mary J. Blige
I wish I had known that education is the key. That knowledge is power. Now I pick up books and watch educational shows with my husband. I’m seeing how knowledge can elevate you. – Mary J. Blige
Don’t give up, be positive and if you know someone who knows someone at a record company don’t stop beating down their door till you get heard. Don’t ever say it’ll never happen or it’ll never happen. – Mary J. Blige
Life is full of trials and tribulations. It’s dramatic when you don’t treat people right when you’re in the tribulations, but I know now how to get out of it. You have to make a decision to say ‘No more’, and then you know what to do when the trials happen. – Mary J. Blige
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. – Mary J. Blige
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. – Mary J. Blige
It hurts when you have to smile and you don’t want to smile, but the best thing to do is to smile. – Mary J. Blige
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. – Mary J. Blige
Thank you so much for supporting me from the day I stepped foot into the music industry. It really means something to me to have Maya Angelou speak on my behalf. It also means a lot to have Oprah on my speed dial! – Mary J. Blige
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. – Mary J. Blige
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. – Mary J. Blige
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.’ – Mary J. Blige
By the time I was a teenager, when I went outside the house, it was about hip-hop all the time. Nothing but hip-hop, block parties. – Mary J. Blige
