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

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.

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

Don't threaten me with love, baby. Let's just go walking in the rain.

I don't think I ever sing the same way twice. The blues is sort of a mixed-up thing. You just have to feel it. Anything I do sing is part of my life.

If you copy, it means you're working without any real feeling. No two people on earth are alike, and it's got to be that way in music or it isn't 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.