Ezra Furman Quotes

Who shall ever tell how much an unmerited disfavor crushes a shy person? Who can ever depict the misfortunes of timidity?

I remember secretly going off and crying. All of a sudden I'm being blocked and have to be intimate in a scene, and I'm going, 'I can't even look people in the eye very well. How am I ever going to do this?'

I'm always a little worried when people have met me in person because I'm worried they'll be disappointed.

I've suffered from all of the hang-ups known, and none is as bad as the telephone.

There was a point in time where the thought of people even talking about me made me anxious. Physically.

All my life people have made fun of me because I was so skinny. They kind of made me feel bad about it sometimes. I worried that maybe people will think I am really anorexic.

My problem on 'Safe' was that when I liked something, I would giggle.

I've always been quite an insecure person.

No one wants to be a source of anxiety to everybody they know.

I developed slight body dysmorphia - when I would break out, I couldn't look at myself in the mirror for a couple of months at a time. I remember doing my makeup before school in the dark, which is an awful idea, but it's because I didn't want to see myself in that bright light.

I'm too neurotic to ever feel good. If I ever felt good, I think something horrible would happen.

I had such intense self-loathing for so long.

I used to not walk out the door; I was so afraid. Everything from, 'You shouldn't be here,' down to, 'Girl, don't wear those pants.' I was so sad. I tried my best to not even look in a mirror!

We can experience an erosion of self-esteem when we're lonely, as we come to believe that it's because we're not likable or because something is broken inside of us. And that can just compound that loneliness further and further.

Low self esteem involves imagining the worst that other people can think about you.

What makes me deeply vulnerable? Probably the thing I suffer most from and have the most uncontrollable reactions from is still social anxiety.

I am neurotic, and I'm a worrier.

It's very disheartening to encounter a fearful twenty-one year old. They haven't earned the right to be that afraid. It's not like we're living in war-torn Bosnia or something.

Panic---a deep abiding, free-floating anxiety, often without any reason or logical basis.

I find that the vast majority of people who are judging are just fearful or insecure.

In my head there's a broken balcony I fall off of when I speak.

I've always been shy, but in New Orleans there were times my shyness would cause me actual physical pain. I'd get so claustrophobic around people that I'd bend over from the sickness in my stomach. That's not a good way to be when you're famous, obviously.

If I were asked about what to do about the level of insecurity and anxiety in contemporary Australian society, I wouldn't start with politics and I wouldn't say too much about terrorism. I'd suggest as a first step, that you invite the neighbours over for a drink this weekend. Today a drink, tomorrow a barbeque, pretty soon, a community.

Sometimes I'll be confident and go into a shop and say, "Hello, yeah, all right," and then the next day, if someone looks at me or talks to me, I just don't know what to do. If you're walking down the street with a baseball cap, you might be fine. But if you're in a pub and you see someone look at you, you think the worst thing in the world now is if they come over. It's a really weird feeling.

Terrible thing to live in fear. Brooks Hatlen knew it. Knew it all too well. All I want is to be back where things make sense. Where I won't have to be afraid all the time.