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

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 yo….

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..

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..

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

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….

I've been told that nobody sings the word 'hunger' like I do..

People don't understand the kind of fight it takes to record what you want to record the way you want to record it..

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, ….

I never hurt nobody but myself and that's nobody's business but my own..

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

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

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..

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

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

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..

I never sing a song the same way twice..

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

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 ….

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