# Quote — Billie Holiday, Lady Sings the Blues

> 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. Everything I am and everything I want out of life goes smack back to that.

- Author: [Billie Holiday](https://www.leafyquotes.com/billie-holiday.md)
- Book: [Lady Sings the Blues](https://www.leafyquotes.com/billie-holiday/lady-sings-the-blues.md)
- Source: [Wikiquote](https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Billie_Holiday#Lady_Sings_the_Blues_(1956)) ([CC BY-SA 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/))
- Quote page: https://www.leafyquotes.com/billie-holiday/lady-sings-the-blues/youve-got-to-have

## More from this book

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

[Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/billie-holiday/lady-sings-the-blues/somebody-once-said.md)

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

[Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/billie-holiday/lady-sings-the-blues/im-always-making.md)

> Imagine if the government chased sick people with diabetes, put a tax on insulin and drove it into the black market, told doctors they couldn’t treat them, and then caught them, prosecuted them for not paying their taxes, and then sent them to jail. If we did that, everyone would know we were crazy. Yet we do practically the same thing every day in the week to sick people hooked on drugs. The jails are full and the problem is getting worse every day.

[Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/billie-holiday/lady-sings-the-blues/imagine-if-the.md)