Harry Mathews Quotes

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 almost tragically shy, like, clinically. I should've been admitted somewhere. I think my parents knew, but maybe they didn't think much about it. It's hard walking the Earth shy. You miss out on a lot.

I liked Columbia, but it was like high school in that there was this big social world that I was not part of. I existed on the side, far away. That might be temperamental, my own fear of large groups, more than anything else. But I had a handful of professors who meant a lot to me.

I stayed at home and loved my own company because I was just petrified of everybody else my own age, which I think a lot of people are.

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 have experienced loneliness at many, many points in my life and felt this profound sense of shame about it - all the years when I was a child that I struggled with feeling lonely when I was scared to go to school and petrified of walking into the elementary school cafeteria because I was worried I wouldn't have anyone to sit with.

Sometimes, in my adult life, I have memories of when I was young and really scared of being too close to people.

When I was a kid, I was afraid of large group of conforming people.

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.

Growing up, I had a ton of friends, and I had a great life, but people still made fun of me sometimes.

Man's loneliness is but his fear of life.

I was always the kid at the side of the playground, looking at the other kids. I didn't know how to get into the group. I was quiet and bookish, a bit of a geek. I was into orienteering when my friends were out clubbing.

When I was younger, I used to be super, super shy. I still find myself being scared of things.

I sense from people that they get frustrated with me for not being out and about. But I guess I'm a shy boy.

I was regarded as the school freak which further reinforced a lot of inhibitions and doubts I had about myself. I was a shy, frightened teenager for a long time.

Loneliness is, I think, people's biggest fear, whether they are conscious of it or not.

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.

I'm pretty shy when I go home because I was pretty shy growing up, and I think I go back to that person.

I've always felt alienated. I realized that I've been terrified my entire life. So I can identify that fear which drives so many of the people that I write about.

I was a very shy child. I remember being in a kindergarten open house with my mother and children saying 'Hi' to me, and I still remember feeling this way - but I don't know why - but I wouldn't even say 'Hi' back. I was that shy.

I was very awkward as a kid. I was a square trying to fit into a circle and it never worked for me. The harder I tried, the harder I fell. For some reason I was a real target and I got beat up and called names.

I was painfully shy as a child.

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.

Well, I don't go out much socially. I don't enjoy going out.

I was a bit of a loner as a teenager. I never went to a single social event, because they terrified me.