Socializing Quotes

“Telling an introvert to go to a party is like telling a saint to go to Hell.”
― Criss Jami, Killosophy

“Every gathering has its moment. As an adult, I distract myself by trying to identify it, dreading the inevitable downswing that is sure to follow. The guests will repeat themselves one too many times, or you'll run out of dope or liquor and realize that it was all you ever had in common.”
― David Sedaris, Naked

“I have no fear of men, as such, nor of their books. I have mixed with them--one or two of them particularly-- almost as one of their own sex. I mean I have not felt about them as most women are taught to feel--to be on their guard against attacks on their virtue; for no average man-- no man short of a sensual savage--will molest a woman by day or night, at home or abroad, unless she invites him. Until she says by a look 'Come on' he is always afraid to, and if you never say it, or look it, he never comes.”
― Thomas Hardy, Jude the Obscure

“Socializing is more positive than being alone, that’s why meetings are so popular. People don’t like being alone. That would be, however, an important skill to learn...”
― Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, Finding Flow: The Psychology of Engagement with Everyday Life

“The introvert's anthem for not wanting to hang out is 'It's not you; it's me.”
― Criss Jami, Healology

“This was the problem with drinks parties: getting stuck with a person you didn't want to talk to while someone you did was tantalisingly in view.”
― Robert Harris, The Fear Index

“Mathilde returned and strolled past the drawing-room windows; she saw him busily engaged in describing to Madame de Fervaques the old ruined castles that crown the steep banks of the Rhine and give them so distinctive a character. He was beginning to acquit himself none too badly in the use of the sentimental and picturesque language which is called wit in certain drawing-rooms.”
― Stendhal, The Red and the Black

“One of the problems of social life is to know what to say to one another when we meet; every man and woman's desire is to appear sympathetic and clever, and this makes conversation difficult, because, taking us all round, we are neither sympathetic nor clever.”
― Jerome K. Jerome, Second Thoughts Of An Idle Fellow

“To me, socializing was like sinking to the bottom of a deep, deep ocean... Until eventually you couldn't take it anymore, and had to come up for air"

- Shimamura - Adachi to Shimamura”
― Hitoma Iruma, 電波女と青春男 1

“Institutions, no less than persons, may need to be socialized.”
― Thomas Stephen Szasz

“They are a very decent, generous lot of people out here and they don't expect you to listen. Always remember that, dear boy. It's the secret of social ease in this country. They talk entirely for their own pleasure. Nothing they say is designed to be heard.”
― Evelyn Waugh, The Loved One

“During these years in the small-talk wilderness, I also wondered why Americans valued friendliness with commerce so much. Was handing over cash the sacred rite of American capitalism—and of American life? On a day that I don’t spend money in America, I feel oddly depressed. It’s my main form of social interaction—as it is for millions of Americans who live alone or away from their families.”
― Karan Mahajan

“In my own experience, contacts with the big world outside the typewriter are puzzling and terrifying; I don’t think I like reality very much. Principally, I don’t understand people outside; people in books are sensible and reasonable, but outside there is no predicting what they will do.”
― Shirley Jackson, Let Me Tell You: New Stories, Essays, and Other Writings

“How then did it work out, this? How did one judge people, think of them? How did one add up this and that and conclude that it was liking one felt, or disliking?”
― Virginia Woolf, To the Lighthouse

“She was the guest everyone invited when they needed to blend a group of disparate personalities, just as a roux would bind soup or sauce into velvety smoothness.”
― Lisa Kleypas, Devil's Daughter

“. . . when I talk to people I really like to talk to them, and not just exchange pleasantries and wonder which of us is going to try to get away first. Most social occasions leave me less than enthralled.”
― Edward Gorey, Ascending Peculiarity: Edward Gorey on Edward Gorey

“I might be tempted to socialize more if the conversations taking place around me were half as interesting as the dialogue going on inside my head.”
― Richelle E. Goodrich, Slaying Dragons: Quotes, Poetry, & a few Short Stories for Every Day of the Year

“That Seigo could go into geisha houses, accept luncheon invitations, drop in at the Club, see people off at Shimabashi, meet them at Yokohama, run out to Oiso to humor the elders—that he could put in his appearance at large gatherings from morning to evening without seeming either triumphant or dejected—this must be because he was thoroughly accustomed to this kind of life, thought Daisuke; it was probably like the jellyfish's floating in the sea and not finding it salty.”
― Natsume Sōseki, And Then

“In order to "be a light" we need to "plug into" The Light!”
― Evinda Lepins, Back to Single

“Back then, we were all still willing to take the “risk,” if “risk” is the right word to describe entering into the lives of others, not merely in symbol but in reality.”
― Zadie Smith, Feel Free: Essays

“Of course, now I wonder where I had gotten the idea that for you to participate in a gathering, the other people had to really, really want you to be there and that anything short of rabid enthusiasm on their part meant you'd be a nuisance. Where had I gotten the idea that being a nuisance was that big a deal? Sometimes now I think of all the opportunities I didn't take - to get a manicure in town, to watch television in another dorm, to go outside for a snowball fight - and of how refusal became a habit for me, and then I felt it would be conspicuous if I ever did join in.”
― Curtis Sittenfeld, Prep

“In a useful conversation... there is a double coincidence of wants. You have to be interested in what I have to say; I have to be interested in what you have to say. This is an important reason why people with conventional interests seem more socially intelligent. Even if they don't check whether their audience cares, it probably does.”
― Bryan Caplan

“Every day the words that Keep-on-Dancin’ and the Gypsy imparted to me - theories, observations, advice and warnings - are substantiated and acquire deeper meaning.

‘It’s not for nothing there are so many bistrots in Paris,’ Keep-on-Dancin’ asserted. ‘The reason so many people are always crowded into them isn’t so much they go there to drink but to meet up, congregate, come together, comfort each other. Yes, comfort each other: people are bored the whole time, and they’re scared, scared of loneliness and boredom. And they all carry around in their heart of hearts their own pet little arch-fear: fear of death, no matter how devil-may-care they might appear to be. They’d do anything to avoid thinking about it. Don’t forget, it’s with that fear all temples and churches were built. So in cities like this, where forty different races mingle together, everyone can always find something to say to each other.”
― Jacques Yonnet, Paris Noir: The Secret History of a City

“A curious, dreamlike sensation stole over Gertrude at finding herself once again in a roomful of people; and as an old war-horse is said to become excited at the sound of battle, so she felt the social instincts rise strongly within her as the familiar, forgotten pageant of nods and becks and wreathed smiles burst anew upon her.”
― Amy Levy, The Romance of a Shop

“Anna rushed onward, past another row of homes, and found her way to the farm where they kept their chicken coop. She opened the netting to collect a fresh batch of eggs. "Morning, Erik, Elin, and Elise," she greeted the hens. "I've got to move quick today. Freya is coming!" She gathered at least a dozen eggs, closed up the coop, and carefully carried the bucket and the tea back to the house.
An older man was pulling a cart with flowers down the street. "Morning, Anna!"
"Morning, Erling!" Anna called. "Gorgeous blooms today. Do you have my favorite?"
Erling produced two stems of golden crocuses. The yellow flowers were as bright as the sun. Anna inhaled their sweet aroma. "Thank you! Come by later for some fresh bread. First batch should be out of the oven midmorning."
"Thank you, Anna! I will!" he said, and Anna hurried along, trying not to crack the eggs or stop again. She had a habit of stopping to talk. A lot.”
― Jen Calonita, Conceal, Don't Feel

“Social interaction, it appeared, was surprisingly expensive.”
― Gail Honeyman, Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine

“It was not so much that he had anything against people in general, more that he saw no purpose in deliberately setting up occasions on which you stood around trying to think of something to say. Moreover, the whole process was self-perpetuating; the guest became the host in an act of social revenge and thus it was on for ever. The only sensible course was never to start it in the first place.”
― Penelope Lively, Passing On

“The book that he wanted was in an area that seemed barren and deserted from the rest of the library, like a friend who had been alienated for committing a social faux pas such as pronouncing French words with the English “x” and “s” sound, not the “faux pas” referring to the loser in a paternity test battle.”
― J.S. Mason, The Ghost Therapist...And Other Grand Delights

“Τότε, εκείνο το τετράμηνο του περπατητού πένθους, διδάχτηκε τα δύο βασικά μυστικά της συναναστροφής. Το πρώτο ήταν ότι αυτός που μιλάει έχει ξαναμιλήσει, κι αυτός που δεν μιλάει δεν έχει ξαναμιλήσει, αλλά δεν αποκλείεται κάποια στιγμή ν' αρχίσει πάλι να μιλάει, ώστε κάποτε να ξαναμιλήσει - εξάλλου υπάρχει καιρός για όλους και για κανέναν. Το δεύτερο ήταν ότι αυτός που μιλάει, που γεμίζει τον χώρο μιας συνάθροισης με λόγια, που τρέμει τη σιωπή, που τη θεωρεί ένα βήμα μετά την αγένεια κι ένα βήμα πριν από τη βλασφημία, έχει μυστικά, μυστικά που τα σκεπάζει με λόγια, όπως η γάτα τα κόπρανά της με χώμα· κι ότι εκείνος που σωπαίνει συχνά σωπαίνει λαλίστατος, αφού ξελαρυγγιάζεται να φωνάζει προς όλες τις κατευθύνσεις, σαν τον χαμένο στην έρημο, ακούστε τη σιωπή μου, είμαι σιωπηλός σαν την πέτρα.”
― Michel Fais, Απ΄το ίδιο ποτήρι και άλλες ιστορίες

“There is no greater predictor of human well-being than the amount of social time we spend with one another.”
― Tom Rath, Life's Great Question: Discover How You Contribute To The World