Nervous Quotes

“A nervous silence loosens tongues”
― Jacqueline Carey, Kushiel's Chosen

“Are you going to kiss me?" I blabbered stupidly.
"I'm working up the nerve," he said softly.”
― Liz Reinhardt, Double Clutch

“Pray don't talk to me about the weather, Mr. Worthing. Whenever people talk to me about the weather, I always feel quite certain that they mean something else. And that makes me quite nervous.”
― Oscar Wilde

“Nothing is as irritating to a shy man as a confident girl.”
― Mokokoma Mokhonoana

“When you feel nervous, recall your pride.”
― Toba Beta, My Ancestor Was an Ancient Astronaut

“Nervous people tend to overreact.”
― Toba Beta, Master of Stupidity

“Relax; the world's not watching that closely. It's too busy contemplating itself in the mirror.”
― Richelle E. Goodrich, Making Wishes

“You talk more when you're nervous," he said, still standing close to her.
"No i don't. That's absurd. I'm just trying to explain to you-"
"Do i make you nervous?"
"No. I'm not nervous."
"You're trembling."
"I'm cold. I'm wearing practically zero clothes."
His glance went to her lips, then back to her eyes. "I noticed.”
― Michele Jaffe, Prom Nights from Hell

“It’s like this: Me: Hey, brain. Let’s think of something cool to say!

Brain: UHHHHHHHHHHHHHH.

Me: Okay, it doesn’t have to be cool. Just something semi-coherent . . .

Brain: UHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH.

Me: COME ON, BRAIN, GIVE ME SOMETHING.

Brain: white noise

Shit. Shit. Shit.”
― Becky Albertalli, The Upside of Unrequited

“But the things that make other people nervous have never scared me. I'm not afraid of men in golf carts or horror movies or roller coasters. I didn't know precisely what I was afraid of, but it wasn't this.”
― John Green, Turtles All the Way Down

“If I am not at 'peace', then I can be altogether confident that I've placed a larger 'piece' of myself in the hands of someone other than God.”
― Craig D. Lounsbrough

“That. That right there was exactly how the slippery slope into Humiliation-ville began.”
― Kelly Moran, Residual Burn

“Peachy. Alrighty, then. She’d just get in her car, run home to check her clothes, hair, and makeup, walk across the street to Jason’s apartment, knock on his door, stare at his masculine hotness in stupid adoration, probably insert her foot into her mouth fifty-five times in under five minutes, then go back to her place and relive the embarrassment all night long while replaying what she should’ve done or said had she been a sophisticated woman, instead of a blundering moron.
Done and done. Piece of cake.”
― Kelly Moran, Residual Burn

“This lunch, however, was going nowhere. Li Yong sat across the table running his mouth like a nervous sewing machine, never missing an opportunity for self-congratulations.”
― Michael Benzehabe

“I raise my face to his, ready for the crush of his lips against mine, wanting to share more than these nervous breaths.”
― Sarah Glenn Marsh, Fear the Drowning Deep

“I had to keep my hands clenched at my sides to avoid wiping my sweaty palms on the skirts of my gown as I reached the dining room, and immediately contemplated bolting upstairs and changing into a tunic and pants. But I knew they’d already heard me, or smelled me, or used whatever heightened senses they had to detect my presence, and since fleeing would only make it worse, I found it in myself to push open the double doors.
Whatever discussion Tamlin and Lucien had been having stopped, and I tried not to look at their wide eyes as I strode to my usual place at the end of the table.
“Well, I’m late for something incredibly important,” Lucien said, and before I could call him on his outright lie or beg him to stay, the fox-masked faerie vanished.
I could feel the full weight of Tamlin’s undivided attention on me—on every breath and movement I took. I studied the candelabras atop the mantel beside the table. I had nothing to say that didn’t sound absurd—yet for some reason, my mouth decided to start moving.
“You’re so far away.” I gestured to the expanse of table between us. “It’s like you’re in another room.”
The quarters of the table vanished, leaving Tamlin not two feet away, sitting at an infinitely more intimate table. I yelped and almost tipped over in my chair. He laughed as I gaped at the small table that now stood between us. “Better?” he asked.
I ignored the metallic tang of magic as I said, “How … how did you do that? Where did it go?”
He cocked his head. “Between. Think of it as … a broom closet tucked between pockets of the world.” He flexed his hands and rolled his neck, as if shaking off some pain.
“Does it tax you?” Sweat seemed to gleam on the strong column of his neck.
He stopped flexing his hands and set them flat on the table. “Once, it was as easy as breathing. But now … it requires concentration.”
Because of the blight on Prythian and the toll it had taken on him. “You could have just taken a closer seat,” I said.
Tamlin gave me a lazy grin. “And miss a chance to show off to a beautiful woman? Never.”
― Sarah J. Maas, A Court of Thorns and Roses

“All we need to do is get those nervous butterflies in our stomachs flying in formation.”
― Cathy Burnham Martin, Encouragement: How to Be and Find the Best

“Call it anything else if you will—fear, anxiety, nervousness, sweating
—but “shyness” is the historic word for it.”
― Richard N. Bolles, What Color Is Your Parachute? 2012: A Practical Manual for Job-Hunters and Career-Changers

“I feel as though I can chew up nails and spit out a barbed wire fence.”
― Khloe Beutler, Speaking Up for Each Other: A Collection of Short Stories for Tweens and Middle Grade Readers

“How we would like to argue with September, and tell her that in the waiting lies the pleasure! That we here in the world of sensible folk know how to wait without twisted-up bellies and tapping feet and wishing for the sun to hurry up and rise and set. That a clever person is never bored, and a bored person is never clever. But though I am sly, I am a trickster, I am even cruel—I cannot lie.”
― Catherynne M. Valente, The Girl Who Soared Over Fairyland and Cut the Moon in Two

“We got to see a Corsair ship up close – all matt black, no markings, no lights – and practically invisible out here in the dark! What a sight to behold! Most people don’t get to see those bastards up close. That is, for very long! Anyways, the ship was just floating there, no sign of life. Our hails weren’t being answered, and so we assumed the ship was dead in space. Captain Mulligan, gods-rest-his-soul, told me to form a boarding party of security and medics from the sickbay and that we were going over there. We weren’t a military ship, and we’re not Star Marines, so we were lightly armed and quite nervous. I mean, this wasn’t just some of my security section being called out to break up a fight at one of the bars on the promenade, this was serious life-and-death shit! So I said ‘okay’, and told my assistant supervisor, Lisa Garfner, to get them all together. Seven of us shifted over to the other ship with the transmatter (you still use those things, I take it?) not knowing what to expect. It could’ve been anything… and it was. It was crazy.”
― Christina Engela, Space Vacation

“Hmm.” Hell, he’d lost his voice. Maybe his capacity for thought. They were headed where his body had wanted her since the day they met. Blood surged to his groin, leaving his brain defenseless. “What’s that?”

She rubbed a finger across his lower lip. “Do I make you nervous?”

She threw off his equilibrium, but he could work with that since he was trained to adapt to new and dangerous situations. He licked his lips, letting his tongue brush the finger she still pressed against him.

“I can handle you.”

“Oh, sweetheart, I doubt it.”
― Cindy Skaggs, Fight By The Team

“Why am I so awkward? I groan to my flats as I pull them on and rush out the door.”
― Kayla Krantz, The OCD Games: A Christmas Romance Novella

“Ready? It doesn’t matter. The world is changed by people who aren’t ready.”
― Richie Norton

“The world is changed by people who aren’t ready.”
― Richie Norton

“He swallowed nervously, but in a schoolboy crush kind of way. She was so beautiful. He had been admiring her beauty for the past few days, but it never seemed right to act on it. Somehow, things felt more normal being in his home. It was like the past few days were just a crazy nightmare that had finally ended, except it didn’t. It was only on hold for a while, but it was long enough to act on his feelings. He wanted this woman badly. Everything about her was absolutely perfect!”
― Jason Medina, The Manhattanville Incident: An Undead Novel

“They were obviously all feeling a bit jumpy. The coffee probably didn’t help, although some of them swore they needed it. Craved it was more like it.”
― Jason Medina, The Manhattanville Incident: An Undead Novel

“When they got to their hotel she went straight up to bed, but he paused to get a drink. There was, in the vestibule, a flower stall and he bought a handful of roses, stiffly wired into a bouquet, before proceeding to the oppressive gorgeousness of their bridal suite. The lift was lined with looking glass, so that as he shot upwards he got an endlessly duplicated version of himself, stout and nervous, a light cloak flung over his shoulder and flowers in his hand: an infinitely long row of gentlemen carrying offerings to an unforgiving past.”
― Margaret Kennedy

“Nervous people make poor listeners.”
― Kristin O'Donnell Tubb, The Story Collector: A New York Public Library Book

“He tried to hide how nervous he felt. If this experimental serum worked it would change his whole life. That meant everything to him. He closed his eyes and prayed to himself.”
― Jason Medina, The Manhattanville Incident: An Undead Novel