"If I don’t have friends, then I ain’t got nothin’."

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

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

"If I'm going to sing like someone else, then I don't need to sing at all."

"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."

"Somebody once said we never know what is enough until we know what's more than enough."

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

"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."

"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."

"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."

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

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

"Somebody once said we never know what is enough until we know what's more than enough."

"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."