Chris Abani Quotes

I have such trust complexes. I'm close to, like, two people.

Childhood was very nice. The only thing wrong was that I was so introverted, everything became a big deal... 'Oh, no, here comes the bus. Where am I gonna sit on the bus?'

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.

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.

It's true, I had an extremely delicious life, but that was my life at home, and perhaps because I was only a child, or for whatever reasons, I found the company of others, especially other boys, quite terrifying and upsetting.

I'm self-loathing, introverted, and neurotic.

I would have given up acting in a minute. I didn't like how it set me apart from other people.

People don't like me.

I spent a lot of time feeling alienated and rejected.

I have very little faith that I'll ever find someone. I've had some bad luck and I've made some bad choices - not in men, but in how I've chosen to deal with relationships.

I know I'm unpopular.

I was painfully shy as a child.

I was the original socially depraved shy ghetto kid.

I get so nervous. I happen to be socially awkward and shy. I spent a lot of my time as an adult not going places.

I believe most people don't go into show business unless they've been majorly unloved 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 never had any friends beyond a certain superficial level. We hate to admit weaknesses. We were raised to want to get ahead, to be good and clever and successful. You're just ashamed to open up.

I was a very repressed young person. I wasn't good at school. I didn't fit in.

I remembered myself as an unpopular and rather sad kid.

I tend to shut myself off from people. It's gotten harder and harder for me to meet new people. It takes a lot of effort to open up to them and spend time with them.

I was nervous to even talk to other kids in my class. I would hide in my room when my parents had people over.

I was very shy and socially awkward.

I didn't fit in at school, and I didn't fit in at home, and I didn't know why. I was often lonely.

I moved all the time as part of a military family, and I just really did not have very many friends. I remember having these feelings of walking into a room and feeling that nobody likes me, or thinking, 'I'm going to have to sit alone at lunch again.'