Mary J. Blige

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

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.

Music is where my love is. I don't think the acting thing is going to start outweighing that, but I think it's going to start being a good chunk of something I want to do.

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.

I grew up watching MTV, when Journey was huge, when Pat Benatar had 'Love Is a Battlefield,' and my friends and I used to cut school to watch this woman in the video. We loved Pat Benatar.

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.

In the inner city, there's a mentality that the government owes you something. My breakthrough came when I stopped feeling sorry for myself and took responsibility for every part of my life. No more pity parties. I've gotta love me more than anybody else loves me.

I just love food, period.

I used to think I was ugly. I thought I looked like a camel. A person who doesn't love themselves, they will see anything that pops up on their face. I've seen squirrels, I've seen a bird, and I've seen all kinds of animals on my face. But that is the result of self-hate. I've learned to say: 'You know what? I am a beautiful black woman'.

As a kid, I was in love with Michael Jackson, and I just knew I was going to marry him someday.

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

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