Basically, I started singing when I started talking. Music has just been my saving grace my whole life. - Mariah Carey

I always felt like the rug could be pulled out from under me at anytime. And coming from a racially mixed background, I always felt like I didn't really fit in anywhere. - Mariah Carey

I do not think I reinvent myself. Wearing my hair differently or changing my style of dress is playing dress-up. I don't take it too seriously. - Mariah Carey

I don't mind being compared to Whitney, there are people miles worse to be compared to. - Mariah Carey

My heart has never been broken, I've never broken anyone else's. - Mariah Carey

If you see me as just the princess then you misunderstand who I am and what I have been through. - Mariah Carey

I'd rather be onstage with a pig - a duet with Jennifer Lopez and me just ain't going to happen. - Mariah Carey

I hope to be around past the 90's. I don't want to just be categorized as one of this era. My goal is to have a career that stands. - Mariah Carey

If critics have problems with my personal life, it`s their problem. Anybody with half a brain would realize that it`s the charts that count. - Mariah Carey

One day I promised God that if he would give me my voice back I would never smoke again. I got three octaves back after quitting. - Mariah Carey

What I write is all from my imagination. Fact is, I haven't had time to experience all that, but that doesn't mean to say that I don't write from the heart, because I do. I put myself in other women's shoes, I can feel their pain and joy when I think about it. It's all the same, we're all women. - Mariah Carey

Heartbreaker, you got the best of me , but I just keep on coming back incessantly. Oh why, did you have to run your game on me? I should have known right from the start, you'd go and break my heart. - Mariah Carey (Lyrics: Heartbreaker)

There was a time when all I was allowed to do was go to gay clubs, because my quote-unquote husband was so afraid of me being around straight people. - Mariah Carey

I can remember when I told myself for the first time: `I'm going to be rich and famous`. I was about 5 or 6. I was in my mother`s car, an old green dirty car. My sister was there too. She was humming; she was about 15, she had just gotten married because she was pregnant. We were on a supermarket parking lot, and I was looking at the wealthy people through the window; I told myself `I am going to be a star and I`ll buy all these things for us.` - Mariah Carey

I don`t know why, but everybody thinks that I`m short. When they see me for the first time, women are always surprised to be obliged to raise their head. - on her height. - Mariah Carey

There is a light at the end of the tunnel...hopefully it's not a freight train! - Mariah Carey

It's hard to be someone that people talk about and write about, you know? They don't know me. - Mariah Carey

Gotta make that move for somebody who appreciates all the love I give. - Mariah Carey (Lyrics: Shake You Off)

Music is what I love and it's what I feel and it's in me and to know that I can do something that I enjoy and hopefully bring some enjoyment to other people through what I do is an incredible feeling and I am just really thankful for it. - Mariah Carey

People all of a sudden just see me and hear me having hit records and it seems to have come out of the blue. But really I have been working towards this my whole life, and this is what I say when people say I haven`t paid my dues. - Mariah Carey

Someone said I never paid any dues. I feel my whole life was struggling, because we were poor. We were alone, we had nothing--no security. I feel I have paid my dues. I`ve been paying my dues all my life. - Mariah Carey

I`m not one of those people that goes into details of my personal life on national TV to get attention. Some things are better left unsaid. - Mariah Carey

I gotta shake you off. Cause the lovin' ain't the same and you keep on playin' games, like you know I'm here to stay. - Mariah Carey (Lyrics: Shake you Off)

I'm not vain, I'm insecure. - Mariah Carey

I rarely go to bed before 5 or 6 am. I am a girl of the night. I hate getting up before 2pm. And when I get up, I don`t have breakfast, just a slice of pizza. I`m composing my songs in bed, because I`m getting inspired when I`m about to sink into sleep. The night inspires me. - Mariah Carey

Butterflies are always following me, everywhere I go. - Mariah Carey

They went through some very hard times before I was born. They had their dogs poisoned, their cars set on fire and blown up. It put a strain on their relationship that never quit. There was always this tension. They just fought all the time. [On her parents' divorce] - Mariah Carey

There's never been anything else in my life that inspired me at all. It`s crazy, but I`ve always loved music and I`ve always known this was what I wanted to do. I can`t remember a time when I didn`t want to be a singer. - Mariah Carey

My mother is Irish, my father is black and Venezuelan, and me - I`m tan, I guess. - Mariah Carey

I've always said that my father is half black and half Venezuelan and my mother is Irish. But people don`t understand. They can't fathom that I'm African American, Venezuelan and Irish. - Mariah Carey

And maybe there are some people out there who think a quarter Venezuelan is not a lot... Well, I may be only one quarter, but it`s a strong quarter. - Mariah Carey

I`d humbly like to become an inspiration to the biracial kids, who are the population of the new millennium. I`m everything and nothing at the same time: white, black and Latino. If I`ve managed to be accepted, the others can do it, too. - Mariah Carey

I don't think anyone knows as much about what's right for me as I do. - Mariah Carey

Whatever you're going through in your life, don't ever give up. - Mariah Carey

Forget the image, forget the ensemble, forget the rumours, forget the short skirts, the big hair, whatever! I owe this to the fans and I will never forget you so I want to accept this award on behalf of all of you. - Mariah Carey

A lot of people are singing about how screwed up the world is, and I don't think that everybody wants to hear about that all the time. - Mariah Carey

This is for all of you out there tonight, reaching for a dream - don't ever give up! Never ever listen to anyone, when they try to discourage you, because they do that, believe me! - Mariah Carey

In this world, I call the shots and I think I know best. - Mariah Carey

If you don't know me at this point. Then I highly doubt you ever will. I really need you to give me that unconditional love I used to feel. It's a mistake, if we just erase it, from our hearts and minds. - Mariah Carey (Lyrics: I Stay in Love)

I'm just speaking from experience, nothing can compare to your first true love. - Mariah Carey (Lyrics: Don't Forget About Us)

Don't forget about late nights, playing in the dark. And waking up inside my arms, boy you'll always be in my heart. - Mariah Carey (Lyrics: Don't Forget About Us)

Now everytime I see you, I pretend I'm fine. When I wanna reach out to you. - Mariah Carey (Lyrics: Don't Forget About Us)

This is for all of you out there tonight, reaching for a dream - don`t ever give up! Never ever listen to anyone, when they try to discourage you, because they do that, believe me! (Madison Square Garden, 1995) - Mariah Carey