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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.

Billie Holiday

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.
BILLIE HOLIDAY

Money See World
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 HOLIDAY

Country Forget Hell Love Privacy Yourself
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.
BILLIE HOLIDAY

Appearance Hairs Plantation Yourself
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

Love Myself Sing Work
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

Marriage Myself Parents Young
I’m always making a comeback but nobody ever tells me where I’ve been.
BILLIE HOLIDAY

Myself Return
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.
BILLIE HOLIDAY

Body Eat Life Love Yourself
Don’t threaten me with love, baby. Let’s just go walking in the rain.
BILLIE HOLIDAY

Love Rain Threat Walk
God bless the child that’s got his own.
BILLIE HOLIDAY

Blessing Children God Independent
I never had a chance to play with dolls like other kids. I started working when I was six years old.
BILLIE HOLIDAY

Chance Myself Play Work
Don’t be in such a hurry.
BILLIE HOLIDAY

Hurry One Liner Patience Time
I can’t stand to sing the same song the same way two nights in succession, let alone two years or ten years.
BILLIE HOLIDAY

Myself Night Sing Song Stand
If I don’t have friends, then I ain’t nothing.
BILLIE HOLIDAY

Friendship Myself
I’ve been told that nobody sings the word ‘hunger’ like I do.
BILLIE HOLIDAY

Hungry Myself Sing
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

Better Hard Kill Sing Slow Way
And when you’re poor, you grow up fast.
BILLIE HOLIDAY

Fast Growth Poor Yourself

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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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.

Related Topics

Popular Authors

More Billie Holiday Quotes