If you can make it there, you'll make it anywhere; it's up to you, New York, New York.

If I had done everything I'm credited with, I'd be speaking to you from a laboratory jar at Harvard.

I'm not one of those complicated, mixed-up cats. I'm not looking for the secret to life... I just go on from day to day, taking what comes.

[Answering the phone] Hello, this is a recording, you've dialed the right number, now hang up and don't do it again.

Most of what has been written about me is one big blur, but I do remember being described in one simple word that I agree with. It was in a piece that tore me apart for my personal behavior, but the writer said that when the music began and I started to sing, I was "honest."

I believe that God knows what each of us wants and needs. It's not necessary for us to make it to church on Sunday to reach Him. You can find Him anyplace.

It is Billie Holiday who was, and still remains, the greatest single musical influence on me.