I can only sing songs my way. I don't know any other way..

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 try to improvise like Les Young, Louis Armstrong or someone else I admire. What comes out is what I feel..

I don't think I'm singing. I feel like I'm playing a horn...What comes out is what I feel..

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 ….

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..

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. ….

God bless the child that's got his own..

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..

The whole basis of my singing is feeling. Unless I feel something, I can't sing..

If I don't have friends, then I ain't nothing..

I'm always making a comeback but nobody ever tells me where I've been..

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 mus….

God has blessed you when he lets you believe in somebody..

When you sing, always tell the truth..

The difficult I'll do right now. The impossible will take a little while..

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

I never sing a song the same way twice..

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

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..

Sometimes it's worse to win a fight than to lose..