Quiet Quotes

“here are some thoughts for parents. If you’re lucky enough to have control over where your child goes to school, whether by scouting out a magnet school, moving to a neighborhood whose public schools you like, or sending your kids to private or parochial school, you can look for a school that”
― Susan Cain, Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking

“he laments the need to “prepare a face to meet the faces that you meet”
― Susan Cain, Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking

“The risk with our students is that they’re very good at getting their way. But that doesn’t mean they’re going the right way.” If we assume that quiet and loud people have roughly the same number of good (and bad) ideas, then we should worry if the louder and more forceful people always carry the day. This would mean that an awful lot of bad ideas prevail while good ones get squashed.”
― Susan Cain, Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking

“Mike sounded dismissive of Western communication styles, but he admitted that he sometimes wished he could be noisy and uninhibited himself. “They’re more comfortable with their own character,” he said of his Caucasian classmates. Asians are “not uncomfortable with who they are, but are uncomfortable with expressing who they are. In a group, there’s always that pressure to be outgoing. When they don’t live up to it, you can see it in their faces.”
― Susan Cain, Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking

“What looks to Westerners like Asian deference, in other words, is actually a deeply felt concern for the sensibilities of others.”
― Susan Cain, Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking

“...orchids: they wilt easily, but under the right conditions can grow strong and magnificent”
― Susan Cain, Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking

“Introverts are drawn to the inner world of thought and feeling, said Jung, extroverts to the external life of people and activities”
― Susan Cain, Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking

“These exceptional CEOs were known not for their flash or charisma but for extreme humility coupled with intense professional will.”
― Susan Cain, Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking

“It’s as if they have thinner boundaries separating them from other people’s emotions and from the tragedies and cruelties of the world. They tend to have unusually strong consciences. They avoid violent movies and TV shows; they’re acutely aware of the consequences of a lapse in their own behavior.”
― Susan Cain, Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking

“Unhappy people tend to see setbacks as contaminants that ruined an otherwise good thing (“ I was never the same again after my wife left me”), while generative adults see them as blessings in disguise (“ The divorce was the most painful thing that ever happened to me, but I’m so much happier with my new wife”).”
― Susan Cain, Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking

“Many introverted kids clam up in groups of strangers, and you will not get even a glimpse of what these kids are like once they’re relaxed and comfortable.”
― Susan Cain, Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking

“We often marvel at how introverted, geeky kids “blossom” into secure and happy adults. We liken it to a metamorphosis. However, maybe it’s not the children who change but their environments. As adults, they get to select the careers, spouses, and social circles that suit them.”
― Susan Cain, Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking

“parents need to step back from their own preferences and see what the world looks like to their quiet children.”
― Susan Cain, Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking

“Of course, it doesn’t have to be a bad fit when extroverted parents have an introverted child. With a little mindfulness and understanding, any parent can have a good fit with any kind of child,”
― Susan Cain, Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking

“Research at the University of California, Berkeley, conducted a series of studies on the nature of creativity. The researchers sought to identify the most spectacularly creative people and then figure out what made them different from everybody else. They assembled a list of architects, mathematicians, scientists, engineers, and writers who had made major contributions to their fields, and invited them to Berkeley for a weekend of personality tests, problem-solving experiments, and probing questions. Then the researchers did something similar with members of the same professions whose contributions were decidedly less groundbreaking. One of the most interesting findings, echoed by later studies, was that the more creative people tended to be socially poised introverts. They were interpersonally skilled but “not of an especially sociable or participative temperament.” They described themselves as independent and individualistic. As teens, many had been shy and solitary.”
― Susan Cain, Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking

“Psychopaths and heroes are twigs on the same genetic branch.”
― Susan Cain, Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking

“We like to think that we value individuality, but all too often we admire one type of individual”
― Susan Cain, Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking

“Whoever you are, bear in mind that appearance is not reality. Some people act like extroverts, but the effort costs them in energy, authenticity, and even physical health. Others seem aloof or self-contained, but their inner landscapes are rich and full of drama. So 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 powers of quiet.”
― Susan Cain, Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking

“High-reactive kids who enjoy good parenting, child care, and a stable home environment tend to have fewer emotional problems and more social skills than their lower-reactive peers, studies show.”
― Susan Cain, Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking

“also why exhortations to imagine the audience in the nude don’t help nervous speakers; naked lions are just as dangerous as elegantly dressed ones.”
― Susan Cain, Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking

“He hated small talk, and his interests were out of step with those of his peers.”
― Susan Cain, Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking

“three explanations for the failure of group brainstorming. The first is social loafing: in a group, some individuals tend to sit back and let others do the work. The second is production blocking: only one person can talk or produce an idea at once, while the other group members are forced to sit passively. And the third is evaluation apprehension, meaning the fear of looking stupid in front of one’s peers.”
― Susan Cain, Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking

“if we appreciated that not everyone aspires to be a leader in the conventional sense of the word—that some people wish to fit harmoniously into the group, and others to be independent of it.”
― Susan Cain, Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking

“artists work best alone where they can control an invention’s design without a lot of other people designing it for marketing or some other committee. I don’t believe anything really revolutionary has been invented by committee.”
― Susan Cain, Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking

“how frustrated he is by his colleagues’ failure to distinguish between good presentation skills and true leadership ability.”
― Susan Cain, Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking

“It’s so easy to confuse schmoozing ability with talent.”
― Susan Cain, Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking

“what she meant by “creative,” she answered without missing a beat. “You have to be outgoing, fun, and jazzed up to work here.”
― Susan Cain, Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking

“Shyness could lead to dire outcomes, they warned, from alcoholism to suicide,”
― Susan Cain, Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking

“child guidance experts of the 1920s set about helping children to develop winning personalities. Until then, these professionals had worried mainly about sexually precocious girls and delinquent boys, but now psychologists, social workers, and doctors focused on the everyday child with the “maladjusted personality”—particularly shy children.”
― Susan Cain, Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking

“Talkative people, for example, are rated as smarter, better-looking, more interesting, and more desirable as friends.”
― Susan Cain, Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking