Billie Holiday quotes - page 2

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:

Southern trees bear strange fruit,Blood on the leaves and blood at the root,Black bodies swinging in the southern breeze,Strange fruit hanging from the poplar trees. (Billie Holiday)
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. View quote
Billie Holiday
You can't copy anybody and end with anything. If you copy, it means you're working without any real feeling. View quote
Billie Holiday
People don't understand the kind of fight it takes to record what you want to record the way you want to record it. View quote
Billie Holiday
There's no damn business like show business - you have to smile to keep from throwing up. View quote
Billie Holiday
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. View quote
Billie Holiday
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. View quote
Billie Holiday
I ain't good looking And my hair ain't curls But my mother she give me something It's going to carry me through this world. View quote
Billie Holiday
Some men like me talkin' happy Some calls it snappy Some call me honey Others think I got money Some tell me baby you're built for speed Now if you put that all together Makes me everything a good man needs. View quote
Billie Holiday
Mama may have, papa may have, But God bless the child that's got his own. View quote
Billie Holiday
You can't copy anybody and end with anything. 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)
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. View quote
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. View quote
Billie Holiday
Them that's got shall get, Them that's not shall lose. So the Bible says, And it still is news. Mama may have, Papa may have, But God bless the child that's got his own. View quote
Billie Holiday
If you think dope is for kicks and for thrills, you're 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. View quote
Billie Holiday
So I asked him to play 'Trav'lin' All Alone.' That came closer than anything to the way I felt. And some part of it must have come across. The whole joint quieted down. If someone had dropped a pin, it would have sounded like a bomb. When I finished, everybody in the joint was crying in their beer, and I picked thirty-eight bucks up off the floor.... When I showed Mom the money for the rent and told her I had a regular job singing for eighteen dollars a week, she could hardly believe it. View quote
Billie Holiday
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. View quote
Billie Holiday
Holiday varied the lyrics of this and other songs in her renditions of them; included are some of the major passages of some of the variants. View quote
Billie Holiday
Them that's got shall get Them that's not shall lose. View quote
Billie Holiday

Billie Holiday

Billie Holiday - Image
Occupation: American Musician
Born: April 7, 1915
Died: July 17, 1959
Quotes count: 44
Wikipedia: Billie Holiday

Related authors

Louis Armstrong - thumbnail
Louis Armstrong  16 
American Musician
Ella Fitzgerald - thumbnail
Ella Fitzgerald  5 
American Musician
Duke Ellington - thumbnail
Duke Ellington  32 
American Musician
Nina Simone - thumbnail
Nina Simone  27 
American Musician
Sarah Vaughan - thumbnail
Sarah Vaughan  9 
American Musician
Audra McDonald - thumbnail
Audra McDonald  6 
American Actress
Miles Davis - thumbnail
Miles Davis  38 
American Musician
Benny Goodman - thumbnail
Benny Goodman  8 
American Musician
Frank Sinatra - thumbnail
Frank Sinatra  64 
American Singer
Bessie Smith - thumbnail
Bessie Smith  3 
American Musician