Quotes by Billie Holiday

“If Im going to sing like someone else, then I dont need to sing at all.”

“I never hurt nobody but myself and thats nobodys business but my own.”

“A kiss that is never tasted, is forever and ever wasted.”

“Dont threaten me with love, baby. Lets just go walking in the rain.”

“Somebody once said we never know what is enough until we know whats more than enough.”

“Sometimes its worse to win a fight than to lose.”

“If you copy, it means youre working without any real feeling. No two people on earth are alike, and its got to be that way in music or it isnt music.”

“If I dont have friends, then I aint got nothing.”

“Love is like a faucet (it turns off and on).”

“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.”

“Blueprint of a Lady”

“[4. Dianne Reeves She supplies the lush jazz vocals in] Good Night, and Good Luck ... Billie & Me.”

“You cant copy anybody and end with anything. If you copy, it means youre working without any real feeling.”

“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.”

“Im always making a comeback but nobody ever tells me where Ive been.”

“People dont understand the kind of fight it takes to record what you want to record the way you want to record it.”

“Drugs are not always necessary, but belief in recovery always is.”

“If you think dope is for kicks and for thrills, youre 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.”

“In this country, dont forget, a habit is no damn private hell. Theres no solitary confinement outside of jail. A habit is hell for those you love. And in this country its the worst kind of hell for those who love you.”

“I hate straight singing. I have to change a tune to my own way of doing it. Thats all I know.”