Ralph Waldo Emerson Quotes

We cannot have expression till there is something to be expressed.

The man is only half himself, the other half is his expression.

Language is like songs, like food, like dance-it is the expression of what we think.

I think that some people like to be someone other than themselves when acting, while others are most themselves. I fall into the second camp. For me, acting is a great exercise in getting to the truth about myself.

I do not just write, I write what I am. If there is a secret, perhaps that is it.

Painting is self-discovery. Every good artist paints what he is.

Painting is an infinitely minute part of my personality.

I prefer drawing to talking. Drawing is faster, and leaves less room for lies.

Being honest is my job. That's what music is for me.

I think that people just have this core desire to express who they are. And I think that's always existed.

Dance is the hidden language of the soul of the body.

If you have what you want to say inside, and if you are crying for something that is true inside, it doesn't matter. The camera always sees it.

I'm a writer. My job is to speak what - that which I think is true. If that bridges the gap, that's good. If it doesn't, that's too bad.

A voice and an accent are two very different things. The voice of a man is how he speaks from his heart, right in the middle of him... And then you stick an accent on top of that.

Poetry, at its best, is the language your soul would speak if you could teach your soul to speak.

My music is about identity.

Although human beings are incapable of talking about themselves with total honesty, it is much harder to avoid the truth while pretending to be other people. They often reveal much about themselves in a very straightforward way. I am certain that I did. There is nothing that says more about its creator than the work itself.

To dance at all is to confront oneself. It is the art of honesty.

My art is just an effort to express the truth of my being in gesture and movement. It has taken me long years to find even one absolutely true movement.

Self-expression is the dominant necessity of human nature.

We are what we are, neither a good or as bad as others paint us. And what we are doesn't change how truly we feel, only how free we are to follow those feelings.

What I am after, above all, is expression.

Acting is what I do with who I am.

Dancing is like - it's another way of communicating, no?

I just want to tell people how I am.