Quotes by Billie Holiday

• They think they can make fuel from horse manure - now, I don't know if your car will be able to get 30 miles to the gallon, but it's sure gonna put a stop to siphoning.
• Mom and Pop were just a couple of kids when they got married. He was eighteen, she was sixteen and I was three.
• No two people on earth are alike, and it's got to be that way in music or it isn't music.
• One day a whole damn song fell into place in my head.
• People don't understand the kind of fight it takes to record what you want to record the way you want to record it.
• Singing songs like 'The Man I Love' or 'Porgy' is no more work than sitting down and eating Chinese roast duck, and I love roast duck.
• Somebody once said we never know what is enough until we know what's more than enough.
• Sometimes it's worse to win a fight than to lose.
• Love is like a faucet, it turns off and on.
• You've got to have something to eat and a little love in your life before you can hold still for any damn body's sermon on how to behave.
• There's no damn business like show business - you have to smile to keep from throwing up.
• Dope never helped anybody sing better or play music better or do anything better. All dope can do for you is kill you - and kill you the long, slow, hard way.
• In this country, don't forget, a habit is no damn private hell. There's no solitary confinement outside of jail. A habit is hell for those you love. And in this country it's the worst kind of hell for those who love you.
• You can't copy anybody and end with anything. If you copy, it means you're working without any real feeling.
• A kiss that is never tasted, is forever and ever wasted.
• Don't threaten me with love, baby. Let's just go walking in the rain.
• I never had a chance to play with dolls like other kids. I started working when I was six years old.
• I never hurt nobody but myself and that's nobody's business but my own.
• I'm always making a comeback but nobody ever tells me where I've been.
• If I don't have friends, then I ain't got nothing.
• If I'm going to sing like someone else, then I don't need to sing at all.
• If you copy, it means you're working without any real feeling. No two people on earth are alike, and it's got to be that way in music or it isn't music.
• All dope can do for you is kill you... the long hard way. And it can kill the people you love right along with you.
• Life is a lot like jazz; it’s best when you improvise!