Lust may be in the heart, though it be not seen by others; as guests may be in the house, though they look not out at the windows.
BILLIE HOLIDAYLust may be in the heart, though it be not seen by others; as guests may be in the house, though they look not out at the windows.
BILLIE HOLIDAYSinging 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 HOLIDAYI hate straight singing. I have to change a tune to my own way of doing it. That’s all I know.
BILLIE HOLIDAYI try to improvise like Les Young, Louis Armstrong or someone else I admire. What comes out is what I feel.
BILLIE HOLIDAYIf I’m going to sing like someone else, then I don’t need to sing at all.
BILLIE HOLIDAYGod has blessed you when he lets you believe in somebody.
BILLIE HOLIDAYI never had a chance to play with dolls like other kids. I started working when I was six years old.
BILLIE HOLIDAYI never hurt nobody but myself and that’s nobody’s business but my own.
BILLIE HOLIDAYIf 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 HOLIDAYIf 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.
BILLIE HOLIDAYThe only reason they’re out there is to see me fall into the damn orchestra pit.
BILLIE HOLIDAYDon’t be in such a hurry.
BILLIE HOLIDAYLove is like a faucet, it turns off and on.
BILLIE HOLIDAYThe whole basis of my singing is feeling. Unless I feel something, I can’t sing.
BILLIE HOLIDAYAll dope can do for you is kill you… the long hard way. And it can kill the people you love right along with you.
BILLIE HOLIDAYI can’t stand to sing the same song the same way two nights in succession, let alone two years or ten years.
BILLIE HOLIDAY