QUOTE (Mary's statements on a variety of topics)
Mary on other celebrities
"Aretha has everything the power, the technique. She is honest with everything she says. Everything shes thinking or dealing with is all in the music, from Chain of Fools to Respect to her live performances. And she has total confidence; she does not waver at all. When it comes to expressing yourself through song, there is no one who can touch her. She is the reason why women want to sing.Its beautiful to see, because it helps people with a lack of confidence in their ability, like myself. I look at her and think, I need a piece of that. Whatever that is"."
"No one had ever heard of anyone that sounded like Luther."
"It's great to work with Jay-Z, he's never let me down and given me a whack tune and Eve she's great and I love 50 cent, he's such a genuine person, when I met him I looked in his eyes and I knew that he's a real person and I have a lot of love for him."
"I don't really like to say things unless I know they're true, and I know Puff is my partner in this music business."
"Working with Jimmy and Terry is always kind of personal, because they always seem to know what's going on with me in my life at that point."
"Puff, you just gotta love him for being him 'cause he makes me laugh. If you don't know him, he's gonna have you all uptight."
"I listened to Chaka Khan and I listened to Aretha, but I don't sound like them."
"I listen to Lauryn Hill. I think Lauryn deserves her success. She opens doors because she's a woman and she does what we do."
"Me and my husband took him as a friend. He's someone we know we could talk to and call on if we have a question about something we can't answer because, quite frankly, 50 is very intelligent and we really appreciate his expertise, and we really appreciate his opinions and the advice he's given us."
"I honor Aretha Franklin and respect her. I love her because I look at my life and I see hers."
Mary on her songs & music industry
"That's the message I want to give to every up-and-coming artist: Do everything that is going to help you later. If you clone somebody else, that's all they're gonna keep wanting from you."
"Onstage, you can't have things dragging or hanging. It has to be the tailored, custom-made (version) of your comfort zone. I never want to be too pretty."
"In the studio you can really concentrate on performing the song where as on stage you also have to worry about connecting with so many people, they're definitely different."
"Working in the studio is a more personal experience whereas on stage in front of a billion people, it's more exciting performing live."
"It's sad that a lot of identities are lost and a lot of careers are lost because there's sort of a clone thing going on."
"I decided to start my own label because so many people with talent come to me wanting to know how they can get in the music business."
"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 on her family
"There's nobody who thinks like me or believes in God like me, except him." (about Kendu)
"I blame my mother for nothing, but forgive her for everything."
"There was a lot of damage done to [my mother] by my father. I don't want my children - my stepchildren - to see that kind of anything or to feel that kind of energy. I want them to always feel loved and secure."
"I've been a stepmother for three years now and I love them so much. They would ask me questions like, 'What do we call you?' I said, 'Call me Mary, call me what you want. You don't have to call me Mommy until you're ready'."
"Well, I mean, it was the physical relationship with this human being that gave me a reason to live." (about Kendu)
"We laugh really hard when we go out. We'll have a glass of wine, or we'll go to a club and dance. I'm not sitting around like a hermit; I'm enjoying my life!"
"That's my buddy, my best friend, my business partner. He's got my back like nobody's ever had my back. I feel like God used him to come and pull me together." (about Kendu)
"It isn't something I'm planning, because I have my babies already and I'm very happy. If it happens, then it's supposed to happen." (about having babies)
Mary on her fans
"It's a great honor for people to look at you and want to be like you."
"My girls hear my songs, see how my life is like their life, and they say, 'If Mary J. can do it, so can I"."
"The reason why I do my music is for the regular, everyday person so it means a lot to me to be able to sing to those that are regular - this is what I do. All my fans are every day regular people that love what I do because I love them. And I show them in my music they do."
"I feel an obligation to encourage them, but the only way I can encourage them is by being an example."
"I love my fans. I love what I'm doing, period."
Mary about life
"I'm at my most beautiful when I'm in a good mood, not dealing with any drama, and feeling healthy."
"I don't want children lookin' at me like some kind of gangster. I want them to see someone who says: 'don't be promiscuous, have safe sex, don't do drugs and definitely don't carry guns."
"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."
"'Cause I'm no better than you, you, or you. And I can't get on no throne and preach, 'cause I'm not God."
"As far as men go, they never gave me a chance to be me; they were always scared that somebody was going to take me."
"You demand respect and you'll get it. First of all, you give respect."
"When I was little, like 7 to 15, there was nothing I wanted to do but go to church and go to school."
"There's not enough time to be disrespecting... Life is too short."
"The streets respect me because I kept it real with me. You gotta be real with yourself, and the streets recognize game."
"Then my life crashed and burned down: trials, men, drama, no self-love, no identity. A little identity, but not a lot of love for myself, my life"
"I'm a waiter, and I'm patient, because when God promises me something, and it's in the air and on my heart, I wait on Him. I wait and that's it."
"I mean, all my life, I never really thought negative about nothing. Never."
"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've learned that we've got to take responsibility for everything that comes out of our mouths so my focus is on claiming peace and prosperity, trust, patience and love."
"I'm just celebrating my joy right now, my life."
"It all translates; at the end of the day, we've all been picked on for some reason or another. We all get bashed, we all get hurt. Different races get picked on every day. Regular hard-working people just trying to provide get picked on, as do gay people. 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."
"I ain't trying to be nobody's hero, but I'm trying to use what I've been through."
"Learning to love yourself takes work."
"I'm just celebrating the fact that I'm no longer what I was mentally and spiritually."
"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. Understanding that everything that comes to you is what you are. Everything from friends to boyfriends to the job you get - it's all a direct reflection of what you are on the inside."
"If women ran the world, it would definitely be different. People would care about a lot of things that a lot of people dont care about. I really think it would be different."
"Mary J. Blige has evolved as a person and I am from the streets, but I am Mary."
"Living in big houses is not what I want to do with myself. It's too big for me to live alone."
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