Billie Holiday

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

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

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

“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.”

“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 o...”

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

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

“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.”

“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.”

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

“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.”

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

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

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