Johnny Mathis quotes

I've paid the price over the years, though: a lot of injuries and surgeries related to my sports career; my hips and knees took a lot of wear and tear.

For me, hearing my voice is sometimes a little nauseating, especially at Christmas.

Christmas is never going to go away, and it's always going to be there. And there's always room for one more Christmas song, I think.

People are stubborn about what they perceive to be the right thing or the wrong thing, and it takes a long time to filter this human condition. There's a waiting period until people catch up. But if you have patience - which it takes when someone thinks differently from you - everybody always catches up. That patience is a wonderful virtue.

My mom loved my Christmas music, so I did an awful lot of it!

My mom and dad always tried to make Christmas special for us. We were poor, but it's funny because we had no idea.

I always felt like what I was doing wasn't selling toys; I was making a happy sound at Christmas. When people hear something so familiar, it brings them back to a special place, and that's been meaningful for me.

I love the whole aspect of music, especially the singing; I never get tired of finding new songs to sing and sing them in a way that's interesting for the public.

My parents were over the moon when I had some success with Christmas songs because that was the time of the year that meant so much to them. They were able to see their loved ones, and it was great to hear their son's voice on the radio while they visited.

I've recorded in Portuguese, too. I didn't set out to just sing ballads or romantic songs.

Sometimes being famous gets in the way of doing what you want to do.

I think there are a lot of people who really want to be famous, they really do. I don't. It sort of gets in the way of the everyday things that I do.

I also met, early on Ella Fitzgerald. Her songbooks are some of the most amazing bodies of work.