Mary J. Blige is an American singer, songwriter, and record producer. Having started her career in 1989, Blige has associated acts with the likes of Notorious B.I. G, George Michael, Lauryn Hill, Jay-Z, and Missy Elliott. Ranking as one of the most successful female R&B artists in the last several decades, here is a look at some of the most notable Mary J. Blige quotes from her life and career.
“As a child I always wanted to be a singer. The music my mother played in the house moved me – Aretha Franklin, Chaka Khan, Mahalia Jackson. It was truly spiritual.”
“Believe in yourself when nobody else does.”
“Everything is scary if you look at it. So you just got to live.”
“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.”
“I blame my mother for nothing, but forgive her for everything.”
“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 don’t want no drama in my life, even though we have a little bit, but no more letting people control you. That’s drama, because then you become something that you’re not.”
“I had to learn how to trust my gut. Trust what I know to be right… not right, but not waver on who I am. Know who I am, know what I want, and know it.”
“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.”
The King + Queen of Hearts World Tour comes to Birmingham , UK Tonight!!! Only Two Shows Left In Europe #ThickOfIt pic.twitter.com/WoMmp0SIpl
— Mary J. Blige (@maryjblige) October 29, 2016
“I know who I am. I am not perfect. I’m not the most beautiful woman in the world. But I’m one of them.”
“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.”
“I mean, I know my heart is not clean, and your heart is not clean, and none of our urban hearts are clean. But you can be washed again.”
“I wish I had an extra day with my mom sometimes. Or another hour in the day with my family, husband and children.”
“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.”
“If you’re looking for inner peace from the outside world, you’re not going to get that. The inner peace starts with looking at you from the inside.”
“I’m on my way to a place where I’d never dreamed I’d be, and that’s perfection.”
“I’m searching for a real love.”
“In your life there’s peaks and valleys and sometimes we regress, and we don’t even know we regress. You just have to learn how to accept all of your mistakes and learn to love yourself again.”
— Mary J. Blige (@maryjblige) March 21, 2017
“It hurts when you have to smile and you don’t want to smile, but the best thing to do is to smile.”
“It’s OK showing yourself some love.”
“It’s that first step-getting out the door-that’s the toughest. If you can do that, you’ve already won.”
“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.”
“Music makes us want to live. You don’t know how many times people have told me that they’d been down and depressed and just wanted to die. ”
“My journey continues, because I’ve, you know, conquered a lot. And I know how to conquer the rest.”
“My responsibility to God is to live. That’s the gift he gave me. What I do with it is up to me.”
“Negative words are powerful boomerangs so be careful what you say about people and yourself.”
“So as long as I’m a human being and I’m not perfect, I’m able to say I’m having some growing pains.”
Show time Oslo, Norway !!!! pic.twitter.com/nPoOMYKv4d
— Mary J. Blige (@maryjblige) October 23, 2016
“The important thing is to realize that no matter what people’s opinions may be, they’re only just that – people’s opinions. You have to believe in your heart what you know to be true about yourself. And let that be that.”
“The music business is not a good place for people who don’t know things.”
“There are people out there who want to provoke me and bring back the old Mary but I’m not giving them the satisfaction.”
“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.”
“When life is real, it’s not going to be smooth.”
“When you come from so many damaged places you don’t ever want to spiral back there, so you gotta continue to check yourself.”
“When you tell your truth, you are coming from a real place, so you are automatically a leader.”
“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.”
“You demand respect and you’ll get it. First of all, you give respect.”
Here is an up close interview with Mary J. Blige at the Breakfast Club.
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