Abbey Lincoln

You can never loose a thing If it belongs to you.

— Abbey Lincoln

Sing a song correctly and you live forever.

— Abbey Lincoln

It's a spirit that was given me and the relationships and meeting all these great people, Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong; through Max…

— Abbey Lincoln

The best thing you can do is to be a woman and stand before the world and speak your heart.

— Abbey Lincoln

I don't have to lay on the couch and see a therapist because my therapist is in my paint brushes.

— Abbey Lincoln

But I've been there and done that. I'm not trying to prove anything to anybody, and if somebody wants me to come,…

— Abbey Lincoln

There are men and women still on the streets, and that's all they are saying Can you spare a quarter? I come…

— Abbey Lincoln

I was looking for the people who were making the music inside the cabinet. I would look in there and see if…

— Abbey Lincoln

We have inherited a great music. This music is a holdover. It comes with us like the skin, the texture of our…

— Abbey Lincoln

I remember hearing the song when I was 12 or 14 in - it must have been in Chicago, 'cause we didn't…

— Abbey Lincoln

I am the first instrument. I am the voice. I do not imitate other instruments. Other instruments imitate me.

— Abbey Lincoln

I loved Billie Holiday more than any other person other than myself on the stage. Yeah, I do.

— Abbey Lincoln

I think that's what really a substantial work is, it's forever. It's the truth now and it was the truth then, and…

— Abbey Lincoln

I was in New York, miserable because I was working supper clubs but I wasn't expressing myself. I was really unhappy with…

— Abbey Lincoln