Top 60 Quotes & Sayings by John Tesh

We never want to go into a tour and play 15 songs and say 'Enjoy.' We have messages: Number 1, follow your dreams. If I can do it, you can do it. Number 2, give your life to something. We say, 'Volunteer and add seven years to your life.' You can have your own personal ministry. The message we have is 'What do you stand for?'

After playing so many songs in churches for eight or nine years, I've learned what songs people react to. Then I just had fun with the arrangements. That's how this album came together.

Every three or four shows, we have somebody that will come up onstage and propose marriage.

I am always exhausted; I am always trying to find more time to be with my family, which is why they travel with me so much.

There is no better feeling in the universe, other than being married and having a family, than standing on stage behind a piano and having 5,000 people waving at you. You cannot bottle that.

I hate to say it, but Christmas as a kid was always a moneymaking venture for me. I played trumpet, and a friend of mine who played trombone and a guy who played tuba, every Christmas we'd go out for three or four days beforehand and play Christmas carols on our horns.

We're big fans of the idea that faith without works is dead.

I always wanted to be a full-time musician. Every television job I had was a means to buy a grand piano, or to put in a recording studio, or something like that.

People like Bryant Gumbel and Bob Costas are terrific broadcasters because they get challenged every day.

Really, at a time when they're debating when and where a nativity scene can be used, this is the kind of stuff we need to have out there - outside of the church.

I used almost every penny I ever made to build recording studios in every city I lived in. I don't have much to show for all the TV money except a lot of musical gear and a lot of songs.

'Entertainment Tonight' would send me out to do interviews with musicians like Sting and Coldplay, and I was able to watch how they plan their shows. The late Jerry Garcia of Grateful Dead always had a game plan, but he also was flexible if he had to change something at the last minute.

There's probably a way to use that great content and to live under the radar now and then in order to reach a new audience. That's the thinking I'm talking about.

I've been stuck on John Eldredge lately. He's all about being a warrior outside of the church. I hate to think about this kind of stuff - I just like to do it.

I come from the performance world, but the idea of a worship song is different. It's useful music.

If you want to write the next great novel, but you think, No, this won't work because no one will buy it or it won't be any good, then you talk yourself out of taking a risk.

Most of the people interviewing me are far more square than me. I think it's the ET thing. I'm sitting there, my hair is combed, and I'm in a suit.

I grew up with the Woodstock generation. I went to Woodstock, and like everybody in my school, I wanted to be in a rock-and-roll band, and most of us were. But I also grew up with a lot of piano lessons and a lot of classical music training.

I was really raised by three women - my mom, and I have two older sisters, one nine years and one 11 years older - so I'm happy to have that many women in the house.

Our band doesn't really have a name.

I'm almost a vegetarian. I have a very rigid exercise routine. I'm up at 6 A.M.; I take a lot of ginseng.

When I was first writing, I was writing mostly about sporting events, which was really what my assignments were. I was working on the Tour de France bike race and the Barcelona Olympic Games, and those songs tend to be very big, very bombastic-type music, which is the type of music that I love to write.

I'd like to do a television show that is encouraging, useful, and clean, and I'd like to go up against Entertainment Tonight and beat it.

If you want to get an education in how to get a story and how to survive, then get a street reporter job in New York City.

My favorite bands were Emerson, Lake & Palmer, Jethro Tull, Uriah Heep, Grand Funk Railroad. If you listen to some of my early music, you can hear it.

It's my job to try and be as good a person as I can, and that's enough work for me.

A lot of people are willing to pray or to put in work, but they're not willing to take true risks.

I've always loved radio. Television scares me, because I'm older.

I do a long sound check. I get there at noon on the day of a show and sit behind the piano and then walk around with the microphone. Then I feel like I have done my homework.

We feel like if we miss a Sunday at church, that's one thing, but we can't miss an opportunity to help.

The real advantage for me is that I have the opportunity to lead worship every Sunday.

My house was really like 'It's a Wonderful Life.' I sang in the choir and was very involved in the church.

I grew up wanting to be a musician, but my parents were sure I would starve to death. So, they put me in physics and chemistry. That eventually blew up, and I got into radio.

I spent another six years in Europe covering sporting events such as the Tour de France.

Being in music forever, I have good pitch, so I know when I'm singing in or out of tune. But the key to really good singing is just relaxing and thinking about what the song is.

I was 23 years old. It was a wild time. I was covering everything that blew up - blackouts, Studio 54, son of Sam killer, and all of that stuff.

The only thing I have ever really cared to be known as is a musician.

Risk means everything from being honest about your faith, to moving, to quitting a job that's paying you a fortune but it's not what's in your heart. Risking things is one of the biggest fears we have.

I can change a No. 1 diaper in 30 seconds and a No. 2 in a minute.

It's impossible to be a good Christian. If you think it's easy to be a good Christian, then you're not really trying hard enough.

The best thrill is standing on stage and playing - other than being married to my wife.

When I was playing piano, it was like, 'I'm going to write a song using all the white keys.' My music director, who knew my jazz background, suggested I try big-band music, so we spent a year experimenting with it in concert, and the audience reaction was really good.

Big band music, to me, it really has three key elements. First is the lyrics are really sweet, and they're just really family-friendly. The second thing is the music is jazz music, so the music is complicated enough to hold your attention for 5 or 6 million plays. That makes the songs interesting. The last part is the fact that it's danceable.

To understand this Christmas record, you have to understand our ministry.

I guarantee you that the people who watch 'Conan O'Brien' or who watch 'Entertainment Tonight' and probably a lot of these other programs have never heard of Operation Blessing. Maybe they have heard of UNICEF, and I'm sure they have heard of the Red Cross, but they haven't heard of this organization.

Christians, just like anybody else, want to have an impact on their lives. And if you can find music that helps you have an impact on your family, on your faith, on yourself, then that's the kind of music you want to listen to.

I call it 'the Etch A Sketch life.' Every few years, you should shake that thing up.

The world is full of people who have dreams of playing at Carnegie Hall, of running a marathon, and of owning their own business. The difference between the people who make it across the finish line and everyone else is one simple thing: an action plan.

I've sort of become the poster boy for quitting your job and following your dreams.

I like writing different types of music. I like writing Christian music. I like collaborating with Christian artists. We have a Christian following. I love writing kids' music.

There are so many miserable people out there who have not fulfilled their dreams. I believe you should do something that you love.

I took the ET job because I wanted to stop traveling and they said I would only work half a day. Then I could work on music the rest of the day. They put in my contract that I wouldn't work after 1 P.M.

None of those jobs were high-profile, but once I was on ET, people then began to associate me with that show. So, that is the thing that many people know me for. When in effect, that was the end of my television career.

Oprah was famous for going to a garden party and ad-libbing. She could literally interview people for a half hour about nothing, and it was entertaining. She had her own show before she had her own show.

I worry a lot about what people think. I worry people think I'm not helping them enough, that they don't like my music, that I'm playing a song too fast or talking too fast. I worry my wife isn't happy with our relationship... I'm afraid somebody's going to take my career away from me. That it's going to go away, or I'm going to get fired.

Those worship songs on the Christmas project will air on PBS television. That's highly unusual.

When you have a 13 year old child, you suddenly realize that you may need to pick a vocation.

Really, at a time when theyre debating when and where a nativity scene can be used, this is the kind of stuff we need to have out there - outside of the church.

I call it the Etch A Sketch life. Every few years, you should shake that thing up.

A great moment of clarity when I realized I'm dying. There's no reason to wait to do the things we want to do.