Billie Holiday quotes

Billie Holiday was an influential American jazz and blues singer known for her deeply emotive voice and unique phrasing. Her performances of songs like "Strange Fruit" have left a lasting impact on music and civil rights. She remains a legendary figure in the world of jazz and a symbol of artistic expression. Here are 44 of her quotes:

I'm always making a comeback but nobody ever tells me where I've been. (Billie Holiday)
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. View quote
Billie Holiday
Somebody once said we never know what is enough until we know what's more than enough. View quote
Billie Holiday
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. View quote
Billie Holiday
I never hurt nobody but myself and that's nobody's business but my own. View quote
Billie Holiday
Don't threaten me with love, baby. Let's just go walking in the rain. View quote
Billie Holiday
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. View quote
Billie Holiday
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. View quote
Billie Holiday
Love is like a faucet, it turns off and on. View quote
Billie Holiday
If I'm going to sing like someone else, then I don't need to sing at all. View quote
Billie Holiday
I've been told that nobody sings the word "hunger" like I do. Or the word "love." (Billie Holiday)
No two people on earth are alike, and it's got to be that way in music or it isn't music. View quote
Billie Holiday
Who love my man, I'm a liar if I say I don't But I'll quit my man, I'm a liar if I say I wont. View quote
Billie Holiday
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. View quote
Billie Holiday
Sometimes it's worse to win a fight than to lose. View quote
Billie Holiday
A kiss that is never tasted, is forever and ever wasted. View quote
Billie Holiday
If I don't have friends, then I ain't got nothing. View quote
Billie Holiday
Mom and Pop were just a couple of kids when they got married. He was eighteen, she was sixteen and I was three. View quote
Billie Holiday
One day a whole damn song fell into place in my head. View quote
Billie Holiday
I never had a chance to play with dolls like other kids. I started working when I was six years old. View quote
Billie Holiday
I hate straight singing. I have to change a tune to my own way of doing it. That's all I know. (Billie Holiday)
Imagine if the government chased sick people with diabetes, put a tax on insulin and drove it into the black market, told doctors they couldn't treat them, and then caught them, prosecuted them for not paying their taxes, and then sent them to jail. If we did that, everyone would know we were crazy. Yet we do practically the same thing every day in the week to sick people hooked on drugs. The jails are full and the problem is getting worse every day. View quote
Billie Holiday
[I]t takes a bad woman to be a good godmother. View quote
Billie Holiday
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. View quote
Billie Holiday
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. View quote
Billie Holiday