Quotes by Billie Holiday

Billie Holiday

Billie Holiday

American jazz musician and singer-songwriter

Lived from: 1915 - 1959

Category: Music Country: FlagUnited States

Born: 7 april 1915 Died: 17 july 1959

  • You can be up to your boobies in white satin, with gardenias in your hair and no sugar cane for miles, but you can still be working on a plantation.
  • Lord I love my man, tell the world I do I love my man, tell the world I do But when he mistreats me Makes me feel so blue.
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • I've been told that nobody sings the word hunger like I do. Or the word love.
  • Money, you've got lots of friends Crowding round the door When you're gone, spending ends They don't come no more Rich relations give Crust of bread and such You can help yourself But don't take too much.
  • I'm always making a comeback but nobody ever tells me where I've been.
+4

Quotes 1 till 20 of 31.

1 2 Next 
  • 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
    - +
     0
  • Don't threaten me with love, baby. Let's just go walking in the rain.
    ― Billie Holiday
    - +
     0
  • 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
    - +
     0
  • I can't stand to sing the same song the same way two nights in succession, let alone two years or ten years. If you can, then it ain't music, it's close-order drill or exercise or yodeling or something, not music.
    ― Billie Holiday
    - +
     0
  • I never had a chance to play with dolls like other kids. I started working when I was six years old.
    ― Billie Holiday
    - +
     0
  • I never hurt nobody but myself and that's nobody's business but my own.
    ― Billie Holiday
    - +
     0
  • I'm always making a comeback but nobody ever tells me where I've been.
    ― Billie Holiday
    - +
     0
  • I've been told that nobody sings the word hunger like I do. Or the word love.
    Lady Sings the Blues
    ― Billie Holiday
    - +
     0
  • I've been your slave
    Ever since I've been your babe
    But before I be your dog
    I'll see you in your grave.
    Billies Blues
    ― Billie Holiday
    - +
     0
  • If I don't have friends, then I ain't got nothing.
    ― Billie Holiday
    - +
     0
  • If I'm going to sing like someone else, then I don't need to sing at all.
    ― Billie Holiday
    - +
     0
  • 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
    - +
     0
  • If you think dope is for kicks and for thrills, you're out of your mind. There are more kicks the fuck to be had in a good case of paralytic polio or by living in an iron lung. If you think you need stuff to play music or sing, you're crazy. It can fix you so you can't play nothing or sing nothing.
    Lady Sings the Blues
    ― Billie Holiday
    - +
     0
  • 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
    - +
     0
  • Lord I love my man, tell the world I do
    I love my man, tell the world I do
    But when he mistreats me
    Makes me feel so blue.
    Billies Blues
    ― Billie Holiday
    - +
     0
  • 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
    - +
     0
  • Money, you've got lots of friends
    Crowding round the door
    When you're gone, spending ends
    They don't come no more
    Rich relations give
    Crust of bread and such
    You can help yourself
    But don't take too much.
    God Bless The Child
    ― Billie Holiday
    - +
     0
  • No two people on earth are alike, and it's got to be that way in music or it isn't music.
    ― Billie Holiday
    - +
     0
  • 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
    - +
     0
  • 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
    - +
     0
1 2 Next 
All Billie Holiday famous quotes and sayings you will always find on greatest-quotations.com

Popular subjects

Popular authors

Questions and Answers

What are the most famous quotes from Billie Holiday?

The two most famous quotes from Billie Holiday are:

  • "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."
  • "Don't threaten me with love, baby. Let's just go walking in the rain."

When did Billie Holiday live?

Billie Holiday was born in 1915 and died in the year 1959.