Nick Tosches Quotes

I can't even talk to someone and make eye contact.

Man's loneliness is but his fear of life.

My family moved from California to New Jersey in the beginning of my sophomore year of high school. I will never forget the first day in a new school, walking into the cafeteria during lunch and not knowing a single soul. I didn't feel confident enough to share a seat at just anyone's table.

My greatest fear is to be misunderstood.

I was writing from the age of 10, and I was never really into going to discos and dances and stuff. I never told anyone at school that I did that because I feared it would alienate me even more.

I was painfully shy as a child.

Because I am basically so insecure and anxious and afraid, I never, ever in my life learned to reach out for help, ever.

I've been living with anxiety much, much, much longer than I've been with living with alcoholism, that's for sure. I already knew from the sheer numbers and all the data that I'm not alone. I mean, the biggest mistake I did was spending most of my life thinking I was the only person who felt this way.

I'm a sponge. I sometimes don't want to go out of my house because it's like, 'Who's going to make me cry today?'

I was not happy with myself as a human being when I was very young - I was afraid of people; I was afraid of talking, I didn't know how to express myself other than by being on stage.

My shyness probably defined the first 30 years of my life, really. It's a crippling thing. It can be very lonely knowing that you've got things to say, but you daren't say them.

Of course I had friends, but it was very limiting because there was always a chance that at every corner, someone would be laughing at me or waiting to beat me up. I had a very lonely childhood because of that.

I'm shy. I'm not sociable. I'm very insecure.

I'm scared of saying something that may get taken the wrong way.

I have lived so long among people who do not understand me, been so long accustomed to refrain and disguise myself for fear of being laughed at, that I have grown as difficult to come at as a snail in a shell; and what is worse, I cannot come out of my shell when I wish it.

Even though I was manically overachieving and involved in everything, I still never felt like I belonged. That's definitely affected my whole life and why I wanted to become an actor and tell people stories, because communication and feeling like you belong is such an integral part of our social fabric.

I've spent my whole life not talking to people, and I don't see why I should start now.

I'm shy and can't for the life of me barge around and slap people on the back. I sit in a corner by myself and am tickled to death when someone comes over to talk to me.

Even at age 10, I already knew that I was different from most people. My anxiety disorder was still years from being diagnosed, but it affected me quite deeply. I was too afraid to speak out in class, too nervous to make real friends.

I'm insecure about things. I'm not afraid to say it, though. Even when my publicist is like, 'Go on the red carpet,' I don't wanna go.

People come up to me all the time. If I'm with friends or in a crowd, I'm fine, but if I'm by myself, I get afraid because people are nuts.

You're always tellin' me to go out more, Go ahead, get out and see the world, But then I think, why should I? I'd rather stay home and cry.

The 'public' scares me, but people I trust.

In talking, shyness and timidity distort the very meaning of my words. I don't pretend to know anybody well. People are like shadows to me and I am like a shadow.

I was afraid to express myself for a while.