Sometimes it’s worse to win a fight than to lose.
BILLIE HOLIDAYThe whole basis of my singing is feeling. Unless I feel something, I can’t sing.
More Billie Holiday Quotes
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I’ve been told that nobody sings the word ‘hunger’ like I do.
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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.
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God bless the child that’s got his own.
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I can’t stand to sing the same song the same way two nights in succession, let alone two years or ten years.
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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.
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I can only sing songs my way. I don’t know any other way.
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I never hurt nobody but myself and that’s nobody’s business but my own.
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When you sing, always tell the truth.
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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.
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If I’m going to sing like someone else, then I don’t need to sing at all.
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The only reason they’re out there is to see me fall into the damn orchestra pit.
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The difficult I’ll do right now. The impossible will take a little while.
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If nobody can learn from the past, then there’s no point in raking it up.
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When Lester plays, he almost seems to be singing; one can almost hear the words.
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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.
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I don’t think I ever sing the same way twice. The blues is sort of a mixed-up thing. You just have to feel it. Anything I do sing is part of my life.
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And when you’re poor, you grow up fast.
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If I don’t have friends, then I ain’t nothing.
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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.
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Somebody once said we never know what is enough until we know what’s more than enough.
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You 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.
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I’m always making a comeback but nobody ever tells me where I’ve been.
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I never had a chance to play with dolls like other kids. I started working when I was six years old.
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The whole basis of my singing is feeling. Unless I feel something, I can’t sing.
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Mom and Pop were just a couple of kids when they got married. He was eighteen, she was sixteen and I was three.
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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