talk less

Post date: 2025-11-14

And I remembered this scene from Hamilton the musical: “Talk less, smile more.”

I touched a bit on the subject in silence.

"It reminded me how silence, especially the kind that comes after love, can feel louder than words. Some of the most meaningful relationships don't need constant conversation to leave a lasting impact.

Similar to this, in graphic design, the space between elements can be as powerful as the elements themselves. The same is true in relationships. Sometimes the pauses and silences carry more weight than anything spoken."

Well, this came to me when I had a conversation with a roommate of mine. He is an Erasmus student at my university. He has never had a relationship in his life.

Last night he came up to me with questions about dating, and the only advice I could honestly give him was to talk less, smile more.

He is cute, just in a normal, human way. Not tall, not short, a bit unfit. Just… a guy. And that’s enough.

a Party: Talking Your Way Out of a Situation

A few weeks ago we had a party in our apartment where I met a girl who had a +1 who was interested in him.

A few hours after the girl left, I kept partying with the girl, and I asked why her friend left. She said he talked too much!

a Block: don't Overshare

Another time, the same guy had a date with a girl.
They hit it off well—DMs, chats, meetups, etc. Then suddenly she blocked him.

A few days ago we finally learned why.

He talked too much.
And worse, he talked to people who knew people who knew her.
He told them very bluntly that she was “fat.”

Of course it came back to her. So she blocked him…

The Takeaway

Silence isn’t the absence of connection; it’s often where connection actually begins. When you talk less, you leave room for something rare in our hyper-verbal world: recognition. You start to notice the small signals/things that people give off when they feel safe, or curious, or unsure. You start to hear the unspoken: hesitations, glances, and the way someone’s posture and body language.

And if you’re lucky, other people start to notice you too.

Talking less isn’t about minimizing yourself. It’s about giving your presence the space to speak before your words do. Because words can clarify, but they can also cloud. They can connect, but they can also close doors. "Fools who run their mouths off wind up dead" Silence, on the other hand, gives people the freedom to step toward you instead of feeling pushed away.

Maybe that’s why I carry old silences from past relationships like unfinished sentences. Silence stays. It echoes. It fills in the spaces where explanations never arrived. Furthermore, it lingers long after the last conversation ends, and occasionally that lingering is what teaches us the most about ourselves, about others.

We aren’t remembered for how much we say. We’re remembered for how we make people feel in the quiet moments in between.

And occasionally, the most meaningful part of love is not in the words exchanged but in the stillness that follows. In the shared pause. In the soft, mutual awareness that something is happening, neither person needs to fill the space to prove it.

Talk less. Smile more. Not to hide. Not to manipulate. But listen to the world before you answer it.

Because often, silence is where honesty lives. And if you let it, it will tell you everything.

Because honesty and trust are love.

note: i would recommend any of you who are reading this to watch Hamilton the musical.
it's been a long time since I've posted here (I haven't been feeling so well). I don't know why…