In this country, don't forget, a habit is no damn private hell. There's no solitary confinement outside of jail. A habit is hell for those you love. And in this country it's the worst kind of hell for those who love you.

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.

Mom and Pop were just a couple of kids when they got married. He was eighteen, she was sixteen and I was three.

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

I can't stand to sing the same song the same way two nights in succession. If you can, then it ain't music, it's close order drill, or exercise or yodeling or something, not music.

All dope can do for you is kill you... the long hard way. And it can kill the people you love right along with you.

New Orleans is the only city in the world you go in to buy a pair of nylon stockings they want to know your head size.