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.

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.

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 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.

From being a little girl in the projects, going through all of the mess that I was going through, to ending up at the Inauguration for the first African-American president, I'm speechless right now because I never thought I'd - I never ever - I couldn't even see that far. Even when I ended up in the music business, I couldn't see that.

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.

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

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. It made you understand what God was. We are all spirits. We get depressed. But music makes you want to live. I know my music has saved my life.

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

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

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

Once you climb to another level, you have to figure out how to sustain it.

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 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.

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 always want to be a messenger, a person that, you know, that's not afraid to pass on wisdom.

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

'My Life' is soft, with notes of pear and gardenia, but still bold, with a woody base.

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

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

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.

There are people out there who want to provoke me and bring back the old Mary but I'm not giving them the satisfaction.

I listen to gospel music.

My first album is playful.

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 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.'

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.

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

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 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 Life' is not an autobiography. It's just music.

When you hold on to anger and unforgiveness, you can't move forward.

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.

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.

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

I didn't never have to go to a therapist. I just always put it in a song and you heard me.

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

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

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

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.

Using a typewriter, at times, feels more like playing piano than jotting down notes, a percussive exercise in expressing thought that is both tortuous and rewarding.

Once you let go of the idea of waiting for a magical lightning bolt of genius to hit, you can really get to work.

Something amazing happens when you tell people you write about sports for a living. You begin to feel like you're in a scene from 'Dawn of the Dead.' The way people change when talking about 'their team' can be nothing short of zombiefication.

A 401(k) is essentially a basket of mutual funds intended to help people save for retirement.

Throughout the Great Recession of 2008, the average 401(k) balance lost anywhere from 25 to 40 percent of value. Nobody was more harmed than baby boomers or recent retirees, who, unlike younger workers, didn't have the time for the market to rebound or were no longer contributing and therefore unable to invest when stocks were cheap.

As the 19th century teetered into the 20th, the clank of typewriter keys went from solo to symphony. They were the weapon of choice for professional writers, the business elite, people with things to say and the need to say them quickly.