Billie Holiday Quotes

Quotations and aphorisms by Billie Holiday:

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


Link:
https://openquotes.github.io/authors/billie-holiday-quotes/#d6f80e13

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.
~Billie Holiday


Link:
https://openquotes.github.io/authors/billie-holiday-quotes/#b41cfee8

I never hurt nobody but myself and that's nobody's business but my own.
~Billie Holiday


Link:
https://openquotes.github.io/authors/billie-holiday-quotes/#befc2c89

I hate straight singing. I have to change a tune to my own way of doing it. That's all I know.
~Billie Holiday


Link:
https://openquotes.github.io/authors/billie-holiday-quotes/#f627b877

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


Link:
https://openquotes.github.io/authors/billie-holiday-quotes/#5519cce7

Somebody once said we never know what is enough until we know what's more than enough.
~Billie Holiday


Link:
https://openquotes.github.io/authors/billie-holiday-quotes/#6670fe7f

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


Link:
https://openquotes.github.io/authors/billie-holiday-quotes/#018d3efd

Love is like a faucet, it turns off and on.
~Billie Holiday


Link:
https://openquotes.github.io/authors/billie-holiday-quotes/#3fcbac38

If I'm going to sing like someone else, then I don't need to sing at all.
~Billie Holiday


Link:
https://openquotes.github.io/authors/billie-holiday-quotes/#dd78d9da

There's no damn business like show business - you have to smile to keep from throwing up.
~Billie Holiday


Link:
https://openquotes.github.io/authors/billie-holiday-quotes/#1db3d803

People don't understand the kind of fight it takes to record what you want to record the way you want to record it.
~Billie Holiday


Link:
https://openquotes.github.io/authors/billie-holiday-quotes/#1d9aec60

They think they can make fuel from horse manure - now, I don't know if your car will be able to get 30 miles to the gallon, but it's sure gonna put a stop to siphoning.
~Billie Holiday


Link:
https://openquotes.github.io/authors/billie-holiday-quotes/#ce4f1cf0

Don't threaten me with love, baby. Let's just go walking in the rain.
~Billie Holiday


Link:
https://openquotes.github.io/authors/billie-holiday-quotes/#f5ba2f06

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


Link:
https://openquotes.github.io/authors/billie-holiday-quotes/#43f755d3

I never had a chance to play with dolls like other kids. I started working when I was six years old.
~Billie Holiday


Link:
https://openquotes.github.io/authors/billie-holiday-quotes/#d6176bce

I'm always making a comeback but nobody ever tells me where I've been.
~Billie Holiday


Link:
https://openquotes.github.io/authors/billie-holiday-quotes/#a624244f

You can't copy anybody and end with anything. If you copy, it means you're working without any real feeling.
~Billie Holiday


Link:
https://openquotes.github.io/authors/billie-holiday-quotes/#6b007c07

If I don't have friends, then I ain't got nothing.
~Billie Holiday


Link:
https://openquotes.github.io/authors/billie-holiday-quotes/#db7ae070

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 Holiday


Link:
https://openquotes.github.io/authors/billie-holiday-quotes/#a80ee8f6

One day a whole damn song fell into place in my head.
~Billie Holiday


Link:
https://openquotes.github.io/authors/billie-holiday-quotes/#fa6fba2d

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


Link:
https://openquotes.github.io/authors/billie-holiday-quotes/#11c597af

Sometimes it's worse to win a fight than to lose.
~Billie Holiday


Link:
https://openquotes.github.io/authors/billie-holiday-quotes/#ca0e51dc

No two people on earth are alike, and it's got to be that way in music or it isn't music.
~Billie Holiday


Link:
https://openquotes.github.io/authors/billie-holiday-quotes/#cffdbc96

A kiss that is never tasted, is forever and ever wasted.
~Billie Holiday


Link:
https://openquotes.github.io/authors/billie-holiday-quotes/#313008da

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