Quotes by Billie Holiday

“They think they can make fuel from horse manure - Now, I dont know if your car will be able to get 30 miles to the gallon, but its sure gonna put a stop to siphoning”

“I would rather have had one breath of her hair, one kiss from her mouth, one touch of her hand, than eternity without it.”

“Dont compromise yourself. You are all youve got.”

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

You cant copy anybody and end with anything. 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.

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.

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. And it can kill the people you love right along with you.

If I dont have friends then I aint nothing.

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

Theres no damn business like show business - you have to smile to keep from throwing up.

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

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

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

No two people on earth are alike, and its got to be that way in music or it isnt music.

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

Mom and Pop were just a couple of kids when they got married. He was eighteen, she was sixteen and I was three.

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

Sometimes its worse to win a fight than to lose.