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
Mom and Pop were just a couple of kids when they got married. He was eighteen, she was sixteen and I was three. – 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
I cant stand to sing the same song the same way two nights in succession, let alone two years or ten years. If you can, then it aint music, its close-order drill or exercise or yodeling or something, not music. – Billie Holiday
It is not heroin or cocaine that makes one an addict, it is the need to escape from a harsh reality. There are more television addicts, more baseball and football addicts, more movie addicts, and certainly more alcohol addicts in this country than there are narcotics addicts. – Shirley Chisholm