If I'm going to sing like someone else, then I don't need to sing at all.

A kiss that is never tasted, is forever and ever wasted.

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.

I think I copied my style from Louis Armstrong. Because I used to like the big volume and the big sound that Bessie Smith got when she sang ... So I liked the feeling that Louis got and I wanted the big volume that Bessie Smith got. But I found that it didn't work with me, because I didn't have a big voice. So anyway between the two of them I sorta got Billie Holiday.

If I don't have friends, then I ain't nothing.

I've been told that nobody sings the word 'hunger' like I do.

I'm always making a comeback but nobody ever tells me where I've been.