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.
BILLIE HOLIDAYYou can be up to your boobies in white satin, with gardenias in your hair and no sugar cane for miles, but you can still be working on a plantation.
More Billie Holiday Quotes
-
-
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.
BILLIE HOLIDAY -
The only reason they’re out there is to see me fall into the damn orchestra pit.
BILLIE HOLIDAY -
When Lester plays, he almost seems to be singing; one can almost hear the words.
BILLIE HOLIDAY -
I never sing a song the same way twice.
BILLIE HOLIDAY -
Sometimes it’s worse to win a fight than to lose.
BILLIE HOLIDAY -
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.
BILLIE HOLIDAY -
There’s no damn business like show business – you have to smile to keep from throwing up.
BILLIE HOLIDAY -
If nobody can learn from the past, then there’s no point in raking it up.
BILLIE HOLIDAY -
One day a whole damn song fell into place in my head.
BILLIE HOLIDAY -
Don’t threaten me with love, baby. Let’s just go walking in the rain.
BILLIE HOLIDAY -
I’m always making a comeback but nobody ever tells me where I’ve been.
BILLIE HOLIDAY -
Mom and Pop were just a couple of kids when they got married. He was eighteen, she was sixteen and I was three.
BILLIE HOLIDAY -
I never had a chance to play with dolls like other kids. I started working when I was six years old.
BILLIE HOLIDAY -
God bless the child that’s got his own.
BILLIE HOLIDAY -
And when you’re poor, you grow up fast.
BILLIE HOLIDAY -
I hate straight singing. I have to change a tune to my own way of doing it. That’s all I know.
BILLIE HOLIDAY -
I can’t stand to sing the same song the same way two nights in succession. If you can, then it ain’t music, it’s close order drill, or exercise or yodeling or something, not music.
BILLIE HOLIDAY -
If I’m going to sing like someone else, then I don’t need to sing at all.
BILLIE HOLIDAY -
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.
BILLIE HOLIDAY -
New Orleans is the only city in the world you go in to buy a pair of nylon stockings they want to know your head size.
BILLIE HOLIDAY -
I never hurt nobody but myself and that’s nobody’s business but my own.
BILLIE HOLIDAY -
Don’t be in such a hurry.
BILLIE HOLIDAY -
If you think dope is for kicks and for thrills, you’re out of your mind. There are more kicks to be had in a good case of paralytic polio or by living in an iron lung.
BILLIE HOLIDAY -
I can only sing songs my way. I don’t know any other way.
BILLIE HOLIDAY -
I don’t think I’m singing. I feel like I’m playing a horn, What comes out is what I feel.
BILLIE HOLIDAY -
A kiss that is never tasted, is forever and ever wasted.
BILLIE HOLIDAY