Billie Holiday

You can't buy soul. You either got it or you ain't.

I never took a singing lesson in my life.

I don't think I'm a good example for anybody. I'm just me.

The only thing I ever wanted was to sing.

I guess I'm just a natural-born rebel.

I sing the way I feel.

I don't know what I'd do without music. It's the only thing that keeps me going.

I'm not afraid to die. I'm afraid to live.

I don't think of myself as a victim.

I guess I'm not the only one who heard their first good jazz in a whorehouse. But I never tried to make anything of it. If I'd heard Louis and Bessie at a Girl Scout jamboree, I'd have loved it just the same.

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

My husband. He baits your hook for you? Sure, I'm afraid of them, they wiggle.

And nosy me i went and opened it to see what was inside. and those things are so real it scared me to death i must have threw it a mile.

There's no damn business like show business - you have to smile to keep from throwing up.

I never had a mother that was really a mother. I just had a kid that was a mother. She was eighteen, I was thirteen, and she used to go out and live it up. So I had to go out and get a job. I was working in a whorehouse.

I hate to sing the same song the same way twice. I just don't like it. I don't know. I feel like it's a drag.

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 supposed to be a singer. I'm supposed to be a painter. I can paint, you know.

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

I've been told I'm a good actress, but I never got a chance to prove it. I'd like to do a picture with Spencer Tracy.