Quotes of All Topics . Occasions . Authors
Don't be in such a hurry.
When you sing, always tell the truth.
And when you're poor, you grow up fast.
God bless the child that's got his own.
I never sing a song the same way twice.
Love is like a faucet, it turns off and on.
If I don't have friends, then I ain't nothing.
Sometimes it's worse to win a fight than to lose.
If I don't have friends, then I ain't got nothing.
One day a whole damn song fell into place in my head.
A kiss that is never tasted, is forever and ever wasted.
God has blessed you when he lets you believe in somebody.
I can only sing songs my way. I don't know any other way.
I've been told that nobody sings the word 'hunger' like I do.
Don't threaten me with love, baby. Let's just go walking in the rain.
I'm always making a comeback but nobody ever tells me where I've been.
I never hurt nobody but myself and that's nobody's business but my own.
The difficult I'll do right now. The impossible will take a little while.
If nobody can learn from the past, then there's no point in raking it up.
If I'm going to sing like someone else, then I don't need to sing at all.
The whole basis of my singing is feeling. Unless I feel something, I can't sing.
The only reason they're out there is to see me fall into the damn orchestra pit.
When Lester plays, he almost seems to be singing; one can almost hear the words.
Somebody once said we never know what is enough until we know what's more than enough.
No two people on earth are alike, and it's got to be that way in music or it isn't music.
There's no damn business like show business - you have to smile to keep from throwing up.
I don't think I'm singing. I feel like I'm playing a horn...What comes out is what I feel.
I hate straight singing. I have to change a tune to my own way of doing it. That's all I know.
I never had a chance to play with dolls like other kids. I started working when I was six years old.
I try to improvise like Les Young, Louis Armstrong or someone else I admire. What comes out is what I feel.
You can't copy anybody and end with anything. If you copy, it means you're working without any real feeling.
I can't stand to sing the same song the same way two nights in succession, let alone two years or ten years.
Mom and Pop were just a couple of kids when they got married. He was eighteen, she was sixteen and I was three.
People don't understand the kind of fight it takes to record what you want to record the way you want to record it.
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.
Lust may be in the heart, though it be not seen by others; as guests may be in the house, though they look not out at the windows.
Singing songs like 'The Man I Love' or 'Porgy' is no more work than sitting down and eating Chinese roast duck, and I love roast duck.
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.
The blues to me is like being very sad, very sick, going to church, being very happy ... it's sort of a mixed up thing. You just have to feel it.
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 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.
I don't think I missed a single picture Billie Dove ever made. I was crazy for her. I tried to do my hair like her, and eventually, I borrowed her name.
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.
Dope never helped anybody sing better or play music better or do anything better. All dope can do for you is kill you - and kill you the long, slow, hard way.
If you think dope is for kicks and for thrills, you're out of your mind. There are more kicks to be had in a good case of paralytic polio or by living in an iron lung.
They think they can make fuel from horse manure - now, I don't know if your car will be able to get 30 miles to the gallon, but it's sure gonna put a stop to siphoning.
Them that's got shall get, Them that's not shall lose. So the Bible says, And it still is news. Mama may have, Papa may have, But God bless the child that's got his own.
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.
I joined Count Basie's band to make a little money and to see the world. For two years I didn't see anything but the inside of a Blue Goose bus, and I never got to send home a quarter.