Martha Graham Quotes

I think there's a great deal of information you can convey with looks or silence.

Where words are restrained, the eyes often talk a great deal.

Body language is more powerful than words.

You need not wonder at my knowing all human languages; for, to tell you the truth, I also understand all the secrets of human silence.

I think you translate emotion better when you take your hands off.

Silence remains, inescapably, a form of speech.

Nonverbal communication forms a social language that is in many ways richer and more fundamental than our words.

A lot of the stuff that I do with Betty is in the eyes. A lot of the feelings that I evoke with her are unspoken, so that's been fun to play with.

There's a lot you can do without words.

In dialogue scenes, my favorite moments are when people aren't talking because you can cut to the heart of the matter much more quickly, often with a look. People hide things in words. When you don't have words to hide things in, it becomes much more direct and much more immediate of a connection.

Emotional sounds don't lie.

The unspoken word is capital. We can invest it or we can squander it.

There is a silence, the child of love, which expresses everything, and proclaims more loudly than the tongue is able to do; there are movements that are involuntary proofs of what the soul feels.

The physical language of the body is so much more powerful than words.

I closed my mouth and spoke to you in a hundred silent ways.

Words that come from the heart are never spoken, they get caught in the throat and can only be read in ones's eyes.

You have to learn to express differently. Whenever I do TV or film, I ask if I can see the shot to see, to see if it's full body or a close-up. That helps me understand how to communicate.

You can almost read any emotion through someone's eyes.

When articulation is impossible, gesticulation comes to the rescue.

Don't write anything you can phone. Don't phone anything you can talk. Don't talk anything you can whisper. Don't whisper anything you can smile. Don't smile anything you can nod. Don't nod anything you can wink.

Body language is a very powerful tool. We had body language before we had speech, and apparently, 80% of what you understand in a conversation is read through the body, not the words.

You can express a lot of things, a lot of action without speaking.

Language is handy, but we humans have social and emotional connections that transcend words and are communicated - and understood - without conscious thought.

When you are modelling, you are creating a picture, a still life, perhaps something like a silent film. You convey emotion but you are only using your body.