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.
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 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.
BILLIE HOLIDAYNew 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.
BILLIE HOLIDAYI never had a chance to play with dolls like other kids. I started working when I was six years old.
BILLIE HOLIDAYDon’t threaten me with love, baby. Let’s just go walking in the rain.
BILLIE HOLIDAYIn 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 HOLIDAYI can only sing songs my way. I don’t know any other way.
BILLIE HOLIDAYThe only reason they’re out there is to see me fall into the damn orchestra pit.
BILLIE HOLIDAYSomebody once said we never know what is enough until we know what’s more than enough.
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 never hurt nobody but myself and that’s nobody’s business but my own.
BILLIE HOLIDAYThe whole basis of my singing is feeling. Unless I feel something, I can’t sing.
BILLIE HOLIDAYYou can’t copy anybody and end with anything. If you copy, it means you’re working without any real feeling.
BILLIE HOLIDAYI try to improvise like Les Young, Louis Armstrong or someone else I admire. What comes out is what I feel.
BILLIE HOLIDAYI 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.
BILLIE HOLIDAYThe 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