If you think dope is for kicks and for thrills, youre 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. If you think you need stuff to play music or sing, youre crazy. It can fix you so you cant play nothing or sing nothing. – 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. – Billie Holiday
In this country, dont forget, a habit is no damn private hell. Theres no solitary confinement outside of jail. A habit is hell for those you love. And in this country its the worst kind of hell for those who love you. – Billie Holiday
Theres no damn business like show business – you have to smile to keep from throwing up. – Billie Holiday
Marijuana is a useful catalyst for specific optical and aural aesthetic perceptions. I apprehended the structure of certain pieces of jazz and classical music in a new manner under the influence of marijuana, and these apprehensions have remained valid in years of normal consciousness. – Allen Ginsberg