God bless the child that’s got his own.
BILLIE HOLIDAYYou’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.
More Billie Holiday Quotes
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And when you’re poor, you grow up fast.
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Them that’s got shall get, Them that’s not shall lose. So the Bible says, And it still is news. Mama may have, Papa may have, But God bless the child that’s got his own.
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I never hurt nobody but myself and that’s nobody’s business but my own.
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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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If I’m going to sing like someone else, then I don’t need to sing at all.
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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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The blues to me is like being very sad, very sick, going to church, being very happy … it’s sort of a mixed up thing. You just have to feel it.
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I’ve been told that nobody sings the word ‘hunger’ like I do.
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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.
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I joined Count Basie’s band to make a little money and to see the world. For two years I didn’t see anything but the inside of a Blue Goose bus, and I never got to send home a quarter.
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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.
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You can’t copy anybody and end with anything. If you copy, it means you’re working without any real feeling.
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I try to improvise like Les Young, Louis Armstrong or someone else I admire. What comes out is what I feel.
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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