Mary J. Blige

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

It's OK showing yourself some love.

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

You know a lot, but you don't know everything.

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.

For the first time in my life, I'm proud of myself.

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

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

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.

It was only for two years, and I jumped from family to family. It's very scary.

I don't think I'll do foster care or adopt, to be quite honest.

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 first album is playful.

I do consider myself part of black history.

You can look at my palm and see the storm coming. Read the book of my life and see I've overcome it.

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.

I can go out raw with nothing, and my fans would still be happy, but I feel that I owe it to them to give them almost like a Broadway musical at this point in my life. I have to give them something more, so I do have to think of different ways to do it.

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.

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.