Billie Holiday

I've been told that nobody sings the blues like Billie Holiday. That's because I don't sing the blues, I live the blues.

If you don't have something to die for, you don't have anything to live for.

I never hurt anybody but myself and that's nobody's business but my own.

Justice is a joke in this country, and it's all in the hands of the white man.

I don't dig that 'happy' jazz. I like to hear a guy play his horn, and I want to hear what he's thinking.

I want to be a big star, I want to be a big star. And I want to wear a mink coat and drive a Cadillac.

I didn't have no education, but I had life. And I had the streets.

The blues to me is like a prayer. It's a way of talking to God.

I'm not a lady. I'm a woman.

I've been busted for everything except murder.

You can be the best musician in the world, but if you can't get along with people, you ain't going nowhere.

I've got to be me, and I can't be nobody else.

I'm not a politician. I'm a singer.

It's a wonder I didn't end up in a whorehouse.

They tried to make me go to rehab, I said 'no, no, no.'

I don't have any regrets. I've done what I've done.

My voice is just another horn.

I'm a woman, and I'm black, and I'm a singer. And I'm going to sing what I want to sing.

I've been through a lot, but I'm still here.

I never had a hit record. All I ever had was a hit song.