Billie Holiday — "I don't think I'm singing. I feel like I'm playing a horn."

"I don't think I'm singing. I feel like I'm playing a horn... What comes out is what I feel. I hate straight singing. I have to change a tune to my own way of doing it."

"I never had a mother, never had a father, never had a home, I never had a husband. I just had me."

"I just felt like singing. I didn't care what they said. They told me I couldn't sing, so I sang."

"I never had a lesson in my life. I never learned to read music. I can't read music. I play by ear, and I sing by ear."

"I'm not trying to be anybody else. I'm just trying to be me."