Quiet Quotes

“Whenever you’re in an army group and somebody says, ‘I think we’re all getting on the bus to Abilene here,’ that is a red flag.”
― Susan Cain, Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking

“Some people are more certain of everything than I am of anything. —ROBERT RUBIN, In an Uncertain World ALMOST”
― Susan Cain, Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking

“Nor are introverts necessarily shy. Shyness is the fear of social disapproval or humiliation, while introversion is a preference for environments that are not overstimulating.”
― Susan Cain, Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking

“A hundred people are very stimulating compared to a hundred books or a hundred grains of sand.” Many”
― Susan Cain, Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking

“not everyone aspires to be a leader in the conventional sense of the word—that”
― Susan Cain, Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking

“FOR THE ANXIETY THAT COMES FROM NOT FITTING IN,”
― Susan Cain, Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking

“levels and to get the flu; they argue more with their colleagues; they worry about coworkers eavesdropping on their phone calls and spying on their computer screens. They have fewer personal and confidential conversations with colleagues. They’re often subject to loud and uncontrollable noise, which raises heart rates; releases cortisol, the body’s fight-or-flight “stress” hormone; and makes people socially distant, quick to anger, aggressive, and slow to help others.”
― Susan Cain, Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking

“Open-plan offices have been found to reduce productivity and impair memory. They’re associated with high staff turnover. They make people sick, hostile, unmotivated, and insecure. Open-plan workers are more likely to suffer from high blood pressure and elevated stress levels”
― Susan Cain, Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking

“I realize it’s not true that I’m no longer shy; I’ve just learned to talk myself down from the ledge (thank you, prefrontal cortex!). By now I do it so automatically that I’m hardly aware it’s happening. When I talk with a stranger or a group of people, my smile is bright and my manner direct, but there’s a split second that feels like I’m stepping onto a high wire. By now I’ve had so many thousands of social experiences that I’ve learned that the high wire is a figment of my imagination, or that I won’t die if I fall. I reassure myself so instantaneously that I’m barely aware I’m doing it. But the reassurance process is still happening— and occasionally it doesn’t work.”
― Susan Cain, Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking

“Montgomery, Alabama. December 1, 1955. Early evening. A public bus pulls to a stop and a sensibly dressed woman in her forties gets on. She carries herself erectly, despite having spent the day bent over an ironing board in a dingy basement tailor shop at the Montgomery Fair department store. Her feet are swollen, her shoulders ache. She sits in the first row of the Colored section and watches quietly as the bus fills with riders. Until the driver orders her to give her seat to a white passenger.”
― Susan Cain, Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking

“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.” Mike”
― Susan Cain, Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking

“Even T. S. Eliot’s famous 1915 poem The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock—in which 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

“For very different reasons, shy and introverted people might choose to spend their days in behind-the-scenes pursuits like inventing, or researching, or holding the hands of the gravely ill—or in leadership positions they execute with quiet competence. These are not alpha roles, but the people who play them are role models all the same.”
― Susan Cain, Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking

“They have difficulty when being observed (at work, say, or performing at a music recital) or judged for general worthiness (dating, job interviews). But there were also new insights. The highly sensitive tend to be philosophical or spiritual in their orientation, rather than materialistic or hedonistic. They dislike small talk. They often describe themselves as creative or intuitive (just as Aron’s husband had described her). They dream vividly, and can often recall their dreams the next day. They love music, nature, art, physical beauty. They feel exceptionally strong emotions—sometimes acute bouts of joy, but also sorrow, melancholy, and fear. Highly sensitive people also process information about their environments—both physical and emotional—unusually deeply. They tend to notice subtleties that others miss—another”
― Susan Cain, Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking

“I enjoyed practicing corporate law, and for a while I convinced myself that I was an attorney at heart. I badly wanted to believe it, since I had already invested years in law school and on-the-job training, and much about Wall Street law was alluring. My colleagues were intellectual, kind, and considerate (mostly). I made a good living. I had an oce on the forty-second oor of a skyscraper with views of the Statue of Liberty. I enjoyed the idea that I could ourish in such a high-powered environment. And I was pretty good at asking the “but” and “what if” questions that are central to the thought processes of most lawyers. It took me almost a decade to understand that the law was never my personal project, not even close. Today I can tell you unhesitatingly what is: my husband and sons; writing; promoting the values of this book. Once I realized this, I had to make a change. I look back on my years as a Wall Street lawyer as time spent in a foreign country. It was absorbing, it was exciting, and I got to meet a lot of interesting people whom I never would have known otherwise. But I was always an expatriate.”
― Susan Cain, Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking

“I was the nicest person you’d ever want to know,” Alex recalls, “but the world wasn’t that way. The problem was that if you were just a nice person, you’d get crushed. I refused to live a life where people could do that stu to me. I was like, OK, what’s the policy prescription here? And there really was only one. I needed to have every person in my pocket. If I wanted to be a nice person, I needed to run the school.”
― Susan Cain, Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking

“If your children are quiet, help them make peace with new situations and new people, but otherwise let them be themselves. Delight in the originality of their minds. Take pride in the strength of their consciences and the loyalty of their friendships. Don’t expect them to follow the gang. Encourage them to follow their passions instead. Throw confetti when they claim the fruits of those passions, whether it’s on the drummer’s throne, on the softball field, or on the page.”
― Susan Cain, Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking

“The things that interested him, music and writing, held no value for the people who mattered most back then: his peers. “People would always tell me, ‘These are the best years of your life,’” he recalls. “And I would think to myself, I hope not! I hated school. I remember thinking, I’ve gotta get out of here.”
― Susan Cain, Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking

“Figure out what you are meant to contribute to the world and make sure you contribute it. If this requires public speaking or networking or other activities that make you uncomfortable, do them anyway. But accept that they’re difficult, get the training you need to make them easier, and reward yourself when you’re done.”
― 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. They don’t have to live in whatever culture they’re plunked into. Research”
― Susan Cain, Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking

“That’s why Professor Little, the consummate introvert, lectures with such passion. Like a modern-day Socrates, he loves his students deeply; opening their minds and attending to their well-being are two of his core personal projects. When”
― Susan Cain, Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking

“sensitive types think in an unusually complex fashion. It may also help explain why they’re so bored by small talk. “If you’re thinking in more complicated ways,” she told me, “then talking about the weather or where you went for the holidays is not quite as interesting as talking about values or morality.”
― Susan Cain, Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking

“(Never mind that the assistants were likely interchangeable, while Michelangelo was not.)”
― Susan Cain, Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking

“When these children grew older and applied to college and later for their first jobs, they faced the same standards of gregariousness. University”
― Susan Cain, Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking

“Can introverts be leaders? Is”
― Susan Cain, Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking

“Why are some people talkative while others measure their words? Why”
― Susan Cain, Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking

“The Highly Sensitive Person”
― Susan Cain, Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking

“Enjoyment appears at the boundary between boredom and anxiety, when the challenges are just balanced with the person’s capacity to act. —MIHALY CSIKSZENTMIHALYI Deep”
― Susan Cain, Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking

“Finally, pay attention to what you envy. Jealousy is an ugly emotion, but it tells the truth. You mostly envy those who have what you desire. I”
― Susan Cain, Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking

“Work alone. You’re going to be best able to design revolutionary products and features if you’re working on your own. Not on a committee. Not on a team.”
― Susan Cain, Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking