Billie Holiday

Sometimes it's worse to win a fight than to lose.

If I'm going to sing like someone else, then I don't need to sing at all.

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.

If I don't have friends, then I ain't got nothing.

You can't copy anybody and end with anything. If you copy, it means you're working without any real feeling.

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.

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.

A kiss that is never tasted, is forever and ever wasted.

I hate straight singing. I have to change a tune to my own way of doing it. That's all I know.

Somebody once said we never know what is enough until we know what's more than enough.

I'm always making a comeback but nobody ever tells me where I've been.

I never hurt nobody but myself and that's nobody's business but my own.

One day a whole damn song fell into place in my head.

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.

Mom and Pop were just a couple of kids when they got married. He was eighteen, she was sixteen and I was three.

Love is like a faucet, it turns off and on.

I don't think I missed a single picture Billie Dove ever made. I was crazy for her. I tried to do my hair like her, and eventually, I borrowed her name.

You cant copy anybody and end with anything. If you copy it means youre working without any real feeling.

I never had a chance to play with dolls like other kids. I started working when I was six years old.

People don't understand the kind of fight it takes to record what you want to record the way you want to record it.

There's no damn business like show business - you have to smile to keep from throwing up.

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.

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.

If Im going to sing like someone else then I dont need to sing at all.

No two people on earth are alike, and it's got to be that way in music or it isn't music.

Don't threaten me with love, baby. Let's just go walking in the rain.

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.