While the aphorism is not literally true, it is true that without properly controlled breathing the best singing or speaking tone cannot be produced, for tone is but Vocalized breath; hence in the cultivation of the voice, breathing is the first function to receive attention.
"Resonance in Singing and Speaking"
Thomas Fillebrown
As tone, or Vocalized breath, issues from the larynx, it is divided into two streams or currents by the pendent veil of the soft palate.
"Resonance in Singing and Speaking"
Thomas Fillebrown
The waiter Vocalized his attitude with the brief assertion that there was "nothin' doin'."
"Sundown Slim"
Henry Hubert Knibbs