And when you’re poor, you grow up fast.
BILLIE HOLIDAYThem 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.
More Billie Holiday Quotes
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I never sing a song the same way twice.
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Sometimes it’s worse to win a fight than to lose.
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God bless the child that’s got his own.
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When Lester plays, he almost seems to be singing; one can almost hear the words.
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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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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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Don’t be in such a hurry.
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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 whole basis of my singing is feeling. Unless I feel something, I can’t sing.
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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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The difficult I’ll do right now. The impossible will take a little while.
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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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There’s no damn business like show business – you have to smile to keep from throwing up.
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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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If I don’t have friends, then I ain’t nothing.
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I never hurt nobody but myself and that’s nobody’s business but my own.
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People don’t understand the kind of fight it takes to record what you want to record the way you want to record it.
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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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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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All dope can do for you is kill you… the long hard way. And it can kill the people you love right along with you.
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God has blessed you when he lets you believe in somebody.
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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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Don’t threaten me with love, baby. Let’s just go walking in the rain.
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Love is like a faucet, it turns off and on.
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I hate straight singing. I have to change a tune to my own way of doing it. That’s all I know.
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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.
BILLIE HOLIDAY