Introversion Quotes

“In other people's company I felt I was dull, gloomy, unwelcome, at once bored and boring...”
― André Gide

“Some of us are fated to live in a box from which there is only temporary release. We of the damned-up spirits, of the thwarted feelings, of the blocked hearts, and the pent-up thoughts, we who long to blast out, flood forth in a torrent of rage or joy or even madness, but there is nowhere for us to go, nowhere in the world because no one will have us as we are, and there is nothing to do except to embrace the secret pleasures of our sublimations, the arc of a sentence, the kiss of a rhyme, the image that forms on paper or canvas, the inner cantata, the cloistered embroidery, the dark and dreaming needlepoint from hell or heaven or purgatory or none of those three, but there must be some sound and fury from us, some clashing cymbals in the void.”
― Siri Hustvedt, The Summer Without Men

“You are like an ocean: quietly ebbing and flowing to the rhythm of life, but wildly expansive and profoundly powerful. You are boundless. You are whole. Your quietness is your strength. Your depth is your advantage.”
― Aletheia Luna, Quiet Strength: Embracing, Empowering and Honoring Yourself as an Introvert

“There is a certain delightful sort of hope which the introvert can receive only by having company over...the hope that they will leave soon.”
― Criss Jami, Healology

“When we take into consideration the needs of both ourselves and others, we communicate honestly, compassionately and effectively.”
― Aletheia Luna, Quiet Strength: Embracing, Empowering and Honoring Yourself as an Introvert

“I’m going inside of myself and never coming out.”
― Jennifer Elisabeth

“To develop understanding and compassion for who we are as introverts, we must be able to explore who we are, what makes us happy, what makes us unhappy, and what our
subsequent needs are.”
― Aletheia Luna, Quiet Strength: Embracing, Empowering and Honoring Yourself as an Introvert

“I realised I really was shy. And once I was in it, I couldn't escape. I'd go to talk and find my face was made of cement. Nothing would come out. On winter days, I'd feel myself turning grey at the edges and fading into the walls.

Was this defensive strategy? It was paralysing. And it went on for years.”
― Janet E. Cameron, Cinnamon Toast and the End of the World

“Some animals carry their shelter wherever they go. Some humans are just the same.”
― Susan Cain, Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking

“I was beginning to realize that what I wanted was the noise of people living near me, but not near enough to cause any inaudible noises to show up because I knew that those sorts of noises often shift into inaudible minor chords and I am unable to deal with that shift.”
― Catherine Lacey, Nobody Is Ever Missing

“Since I neither want not can influence the events of the world, my mission is to preserve the internal integrity and equilibrium of my mind; that will be in which the manor in which I recover the purity of the original act; I shall be my own citadel, and to it I shall retire to protect myself against a hostile and corrupt world. I shall be my own citadel and, within it, my own and only citizen.”
― Carlos Fuentes, Terra Nostra

“Many preachers are at home among books but quite at sea among men.”
― Charles Haddon Spurgeon, Lectures to My Students

“A philosophy that cannot be lived is no philosophy at all.”
― Philip Zaleski, The Fellowship: The Literary Lives of the Inklings: J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Owen Barfield, Charles Williams

“the idea of being invisibly alone in a crowd of strangers is so tempting for a number of introverts...or maybe for loneliness?”
― Jennifer William

“I like her. She's restful.”
― Jo Walton, Among Others

“It is, in truth, our responsibility to understand our needs and to adjust our perceptions,thoughts, decisions, behaviors, and environments to reflect these needs. We can’t force others to change, but we can change ourselves.”
― Aletheia Luna, Quiet Strength: Embracing, Empowering and Honoring Yourself as an Introvert

“Superficially it may appear that I am more interested in books than in people; but I think it nearer the mark to say that I am more interested in people as they are revealed to me in books than as they reveal themselves to me in daily contact.”
― Vincent Starrett, Born in a Bookshop: Chapters from the Chicago Renascence

“How difficult it is to find solitude in a world that constantly demands your attention.”
― Joyce Rachelle

“It’s important, however, to understand that being introverted is different from being shy or antisocial. Shyness is insecurity or fear of social embarrassment, and the word “antisocial” describes someone who has hostile or harmful feelings toward society. Introversion is a preference that has to do with where you direct your energy (inward), how you recharge (usually by being alone), and what level of outside stimulation you’re comfortable with (less is more). It’s not a weakness to overcome or something to be cured. It’s just how some of us are designed.”
― Aaron Caycedo-Kimura, Text, Don't Call: An Illustrated Guide to the Introverted Life

“Some animals naturally carry shelter everywhere they go, and that some humans are just the same”
― Susan Cain, Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking

“Only a few have learned to savor the significance of solitude. Those who can glory in being alone on occasion are the saint or poet or explorer.”
― William P. Barker

“Naturally, at first, one is inclined to regard such differences as mere individual idiosyncrasies. But anyone with the opportunity of gaining a fundamental knowledge of many men will soon discover that such a far-reaching contrast does not merely concern the individual case, but is a question of typical attitudes, with a universality far greater than a limited psychological experience would at first assume. In reality, as the preceding chapters will have shown, it is a question of a fundamental opposition; at times clear and at times obscure, but always emerging whenever we are dealing with individuals whose personality is in any way pronounced. Such men are found not only among the educated classes, but in every rank of society; with equal distinctness, therefore, our types can be demonstrated among labourers and peasants as among the most differentiated members of a nation. Furthermore, these types over-ride the distinctions of sex, since one finds the same contrasts amongst women of all classes. Such a universal distribution could hardly arise at the instigation of consciousness, ie. as the result of a conscious and deliberate choice of attitude. If this were the case, a definite level of society, linked together by a similar education and environment and, therefore, correspondingly localized, would surely have a majority representation of such an attitude. But the actual facts are just the reverse, for the types have, apparently, quite a random distribution. In the same family one child is introverted, and another extraverted.”
― C.G. Jung

“At least a third of the world’s population are introverts. While they can pretend to be extroverts for a while, frankly, the task is exhausting. I hope Charlotte accurately portrayed the complexities of this personality. Contrary to common belief, introverts are not necessarily shy. They are not misanthropists. Though they gain energy from solitude and quiet, they don’t always like to be by themselves. They are, however, wonderful observers of the world around them, are quite self- aware, and prefer deep conversations to small talk. They are also inclined to think that there’s something seriously wrong with them. Many times they desperately hope that if they just try hard enough, they’ll be able to be like everyone else. I should know. I am one. Perhaps my novels always speak to questions of worth because so often I doubt my own.”
― Mitchell, Siri

“I asked him for a cigarette and he obliged, lighting it for me without a word, without meeting my eye. The quiet ones do this. They exert control by giving nothing out, and it's this blankness that makes them unpredictable, as dangerous as the loud ones are obvious.”
― Vu Tran, Dragonfish

“Potential was a red herring to plot a life of wandering curiosity.”
― Nicholas Dawidoff, The Catcher Was a Spy: The Mysterious Life of Moe Berg

“Introverts spend a lot of time pondering the big questions. Our love of ideas often inspires us to pursue noble work. But, as we soon find, these jobs don't pay us for sitting in a soft chair and thinking big thoughts. Once on the job, we discover – to our horror – that we are expected to carry out the big ideas, and that usually means talking to PEOPLE. Usually, by the time we discover this, we are up to our ears in debt – not just for the student loans, but also to our own ideals.”
― Laurie A. Helgoe

“So today, I am tearing up my Introverts Anonymous card.” Jake held out the card and tore it in two, handing the pieces to Charli. “I promise that I will get out and socialize now and then, and that Charli may schedule up to one dinner party per year, as long as the invitees are aware that they are free to stay home and read a book if they wish.”
― Al Macy, Contact Us

“There are two distinct groups of people in the world: the ones who tell stories, and those who pay attention.”
― Daniel Gonçalves

“Miles saw him as a grief-stricken recluse, hiding from the world while he mourned his dead wife. Maybe that was the way everyone saw him. But Annie’s death had not created the condition; it had merely emphasized it.”
― Terry Brooks, Magic Kingdom for Sale/Sold

“One of the ways I know I shouldn't be online is when I'm looking to get something that I already have in abundance as a child of God.”
― Sammy Rhodes