I never had a chance to play with dolls like other kids. I started working when I was six years old.

I don't think I'm singing. I feel like I'm playing a horn...What comes out is what I feel.

You've got to have something to eat and a little love in your life before you can hold still for any damn body's sermon on how to behave.

If you think dope is for kicks and for thrills, you're 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.

God bless the child that's got his own.

And when you're poor, you grow up fast.

The only reason they're out there is to see me fall into the damn orchestra pit.