I’m continually amazed by how many people who appear to be extroverts are actually introverts.
The pressure to entertain, to sell ourselves, and never to be visibly anxious keeps ratcheting up.
Eleanor Roosevelt, Rosa Parks, Gandhi – all these peopled described themselves as quiet and soft-spoken and even shy. And they all took the spotlight, even though every bone in their bodies was telling them not to.
Scores of studies have shown that venting doesn’t soothe anger; it fuels it.
Solitude matters, and for some people, it’s the air they breathe.
You’re told that you’re in your head too much, a phrase that’s often deployed against the quiet and cerebral. Or maybe there’s another word for such people: thinkers.
The next time you see a person with a composed face and a soft voice, remember that inside her mind she might be solving an equation, composing a sonnet, designing a hat. She might, that is, be deploying the power of quiet.
Opposites attract, and I think temperament is so fundamental that you end up craving someone of the opposite temperament to complete you.
Love is essential, gregariousness is optional.
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.
There’s zero correlation between being the best talker and having the best ideas.
Being relatively unmoved by rewards gives you the incalculable power to go your own way.
What if you love knowledge for its own sake, not necessarily as a blueprint to action? What if you wish there were more, not fewer reflective types in the world?
Everyone shines, given the right lighting.
There is no one more courageous than the person who speaks with the courage of his convictions.
Introverts are capable of acting like extroverts for the sake of work they consider important, people they love, or anything they value highly.
Introverts living under the Extroversion Ideal are like women in a man’s world, discounted because of a trait that goes to the core of who they are.
The secret to life is to put yourself in the right lighting.
Persistence isn’t very glamorous. If genius is one percent inspiration and ninety-nine percent perspiration, then as a culture we tend to lionize the one percent. We love its flash and dazzle. But great power lies in the other ninety-nine percent.
There are only a few people out there who can completely overcome their fears, and they all live in Tibet.