You can't copy anybody and end with anything. If you copy, it means you're working without any real feeling.

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.

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.

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

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.

I can't stand to sing the same song the same way two nights in succession, let alone two years or ten years.

I hate straight singing. I have to change a tune to my own way of doing it. That's all I know.