Jonathan Safran Foer Quotes

I'm so shy now I wear sunglasses everywhere I go.

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 don't like to approach people that much. There's been times when I wanted to say something to somebody, in a quick moment, but didn't. Then you think, man, who knows?

The last thing in the world I should have done was go into the theater because was inordinately shy as a young man. I couldn't open my mouth. At a party, I was the one stuck up against the wall. I was embarrassed about talking. I felt that I couldn't talk well.

What I never overcame is a kind of shyness.

I was very, very shy as a younger girl, just petrified of people.

I've always been really shy. I was always afraid of any kind of confrontation.

I'm usually too shy to write on planes because I assume that everyone on board is as nosy as I am and will look over my shoulder and read what I'm writing.

I hardly ever go to parties. If I really have to, I'll go, but I'm not the most open person, which is sometimes not the best quality.

I am shy - going to parties kills me.

I just really don't like being the center of attention that much. It's kind of ironic.

Shyness displays itself differently in me. I think it's more an awkwardness.

I never really wanted to be a singer, because I was a super-shy kid. Singing made me feel awkward, and I was really insecure.

I'm a bit shy, I suppose, and a bit lazy.

When people have recently asked me my profession, I have not dared to reply.

I'm terribly, horribly shy.

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 just painfully shy. I couldn't talk to anyone. Going up in front of class, I would have to mentally prepare myself to raise my hand.

I have a fear of people... Some days you just don't really want the attention of everybody looking at you. And it makes you feel insecure.

I was definitely the kid in the back of the class with his head down the whole time not wanting to speak up and say anything.

I don't know if I want to walk down the street and have everyone staring. I think that would be awful. I'm a pretty shy person, really.

I felt suddenly shy. I was not used to shy. I was used to shame. Shyness is when you turn your head away from something you want. Shame is when you turn your head away from something you do not want.

It’s funny—when people call you “shy,” they usually smile. Like it’s cute, some funny little habit you’ll grow out of when you’re older, like the gaps in your grin when your baby teeth fall out. If they knew how it felt—really being shy, not just unsure at first—they wouldn’t smile. Not if they knew how the feeling knots up your stomach or makes your palms sweat or robs you of the ability to say anything that makes sense. It’s not cute at all.

Shyness is the fear of social disapproval or humiliation, while introversion is a preference for environments that are not overstimulating. Shyness is inherently painful; introversion is not.

Shyness is a curious thing, because, like quicksand, it can strike people at any time, and also, like quicksand, it usually makes its victims look down.