206 Introvert quotes

I always try to be myself. Ever since I was an introverted kid, I’d get on stage and be able to break out of my shell.

Our culture is biased against quiet and reserved people, but introverts are responsible for some of humanity’s greatest achievements.

Shyness is about the fear of social judgments – at a job interview or a party you might be excessively worried about what people think of you. Whereas an introvert might not feel any of those things at all, they simply have the preference to be in a quieter setting.

I am a mild introvert. But I have learned to be a very successful extrovert because if you want impact, you have to work with people.

I’m really an inner spirit that only makes itself known through the music. A lot of people think I’m an introvert, or quiet and moody. I’ve even heard some people say that there’s a certain mystery or darkness about me. I’m not that way. I’m just really into what I do.

When an introvert is quiet, don’t assume he is depressed, snobbish or socially deficient.

Introverts are more effective leaders of proactive employees. When you have a creative, energetic work force, an introvert is going to draw out that energy better.

I am more of an introvert person who is a little shy to get into random chat. I would rather observe people silently.

I’m an introvert… I love being by myself, love being outdoors, love taking a long walk with my dogs and looking at the trees, flowers, and the sky.

Don’t think of introversion as something that needs to be cured… Spend your free time the way you like, not the way you think you’re supposed to.

Introverts, the world needs you and it needs the things you carry. So I wish you the best of all possible journeys and the courage to speak softly.

Introverts, in contrast, may have strong social skills and enjoy parties and business meetings, but after a while wish they were home in their pajamas. They prefer to devote their social energies to close friends, colleagues, and family.

Introverts think carefully before they speak. We can be excellent public speakers because we prepare carefully.

Introverts tend to avoid small talk. We’d rather talk about something meaningful than fill the air with chatter just to hear ourselves make noise.

Introverts prefer to work independently, and solitude can be a catalyst to innovation.

Introverts paradoxically pull away from culture and create culture.

Introverts need to trust their gut and share their ideas as powerfully as they can.

Introverts living under the extroversion Ideal are like women in a man’s world, discounted because of a trait that goes to the core of who they are.

Introverts live in two worlds: We visit the world of people, but solitude and the inner world will always be our home.

Introverts listen more than they talk, think before they speak, and often feel as if they express themselves better in writing than in conversation. They tend to dislike conflict. Many have a horror for small talk, but enjoy deep discussions.

Introverts like people they meet in friendly contexts; extroverts prefer those they compete with.

Introverts feel ‘just right’ with less stimulation, as when they sip wine with a friend, solve a crossword puzzle, or read a book.

Introverts don’t get lonely if they don’t socialize with a lot of people, but we do get lonely if we don’t have intimate interactions on a regular basis.

Introverts dislike small talk, but we are fluent in the language of ideas and dreams.

Introverts crave meaning so party chit-chat feels like sandpaper to our psyche.

Introverts are word economists in a society suffering from verbal diarrhea.

Introverts are offered keys to private gardens full of riches. To possess such a key is to tumble like Alice down her rabbit hole. She didn’t choose to go to Wonderland – but she made of it an adventure that was fresh and fantastic and very much her own.

Introverts are dependent on their own inside noise, extroverts are dependent of outside noise. The outputs are dependent on quality of those noise.

Introverts are collectors of thoughts, and solitude is where the collection is curated and rearranged to make sense of the present and future.

Introverts are capable of acting like extroverts for the sake of work they consider important, people they love, or anything they value highly.

Introvert inclusion: Sometimes we want to be left alone, sometimes we want to be included; most of the time we want to be included with the option to be left alone.

Introvert conversations are like jazz. Each player gets to solo for a nice stretch before the other player comes in and does his solo.

An introvert may feel asocial when pressured to go to a party that doesn’t interest her. But for her, the event does not promise meaningful interaction. In fact, she knows that the party will leave her feeling more alone and alienated.

Being introverted, it doesn’t mean necessarily being shy or being afraid of public speaking; it just means that it’s hard for me to interact with people for too long.

For introverts, to be alone with our thoughts is as restorative as sleeping, as nourishing as eating.

How much better is silence; the coffee cup, the table. How much better to sit by myself like the solitary sea-bird that opens its wings on the stake. Let me sit here forever with bare things, this coffee cup, this knife, this fork, things in themselves, myself being myself.

If you’re an introvert, you know the relief when plans are cancelled.

If you’re an introvert, you also know that the bias against quiet can cause deep psychic pain. As a child you might have overheard your parents apologize for your shyness. Or at school you might have been prodded to come ‘out of your shell’

Let’s clear one thing up: Introverts do not hate small talk because we dislike people. We hate small talk because we hate the barrier it creates between people.

Many people believe that introversion is about being antisocial, and that’s really a misperception. Because actually it’s just that introverts are differently social. So they would prefer to have a glass of wine with a close friend as opposed to going to a loud party full of strangers.

The difference between successful people and really successful people is that really successful people say no to almost everything.

The only thing a true introvert dislikes more than talking about himself is repeating himself.

I am who I am. I am not very complicated. I am simple and an introvert.

I’m an introvert somewhat. There could be a room full of people, I’ll go stand in the corner.

I prefer listening to talking, reading to socializing… I like to think before I speak (softly).

I like cancelled plans. And empty bookstores. I like rainy days and thunderstorms. And quiet coffee shops. I like messy beds and over-worn pajamas. Most of all, I like the small joys that a simple life brings.

You only know part of me. I am a universe full of secrets.

Yes, I guess you could say I am a loner, but I feel more lonely in a crowded room with boring people that I feel on my own.

When you ask me what I am doing today, and I say nothing, it does not mean I am free. It means I am doing nothing.

When I am alone I can become invisible. I can sit on the top of a dune as motionless as an uprise of weeds, until the foxes run by unconcerned. I can hear the almost unhearable sound of the roses singing.

I owe everything that I have done to the fact that I am very much at ease being alone.

I am rarely bored alone; I am often bored in groups and crowds.

I am quite shy and people think I’m aloof.

I am lonely, yet not everybody will do. I don’t know why, some people fill the gaps but other people emphasize my loneliness.

I am alone in the world, and yet not alone enough to make every hour holy.

I am a minimalist. I like saying the most with the least.

After an hour or two of being socially on, we introverts need to turn off and recharge. This isn’t antisocial. It isn’t a sign of depression.

Alone had always felt like an actual place to me, as if it weren’t a state of being, but rather a room where I could retreat to be who I really was.

And all of a sudden I felt really tired. Like the world had drained me for everything that I had.

As a child, I suppose I was not quite normal. My happiest times were when I was left alone in the house on a Saturday.

Don’t underestimate me because I’m quiet. I know more than I say, think more than I speak and observe more than you know.

I never felt comfortable with myself, because I was never part of the majority. I always felt awkward and shy and on the outside of the momentum of my friends’ lives.

I do feel that I’ve managed to make something I could maybe call my world…over time…little by little. And when I’m inside it, to some extent, I feel kind of relieved. But the very fact I felt I had to make such a world probably means that I’m a weak person, that I bruise easily, don’t you think? And in the eyes of society at large, that world of mine is a puny little thing. It’s like a cardboard house: a puff of wind might carry it off somewhere.

I don’t believe anything really revolutionary has ever been invented by committee… I’m going to give you some advice that might be hard to take. That advice is: Work alone… Not on a committee. Not on a team.

I don’t hate people, I just feel better when they aren’t around.

I don’t want to be alone. I want to be left alone.

I enjoyed the discipline and solitariness of long-distance running, which allowed me to escape from the hurly-burly of school life.

I have to be alone very often. I’d be quite happy if I spent from Saturday night until Monday morning alone in my apartment. That’s how I refuel.

I have an introvert hangover. I’m totally exhausted, from too much human interaction.

I have a feeling that inside you somewhere, there’s somebody nobody knows about.

I restore myself when I’m alone.

I really like to stay in my nest and not move. I travel in my mind, and that’s a rigorous state of journeying for me. My body isn’t that interested in moving from place to place.

I think enough cannot be said for what you can discover through literature. So I think that was probably my most valued characteristic as a teenager.

I think introverts can do quite well. If you’re clever you can learn to get the benefits of being an introvert, which might be, say, being willing to go off for a few days and think about a tough problem, read everything you can, push yourself very hard to think out on the edge of that area.

I think I’m a weird combination of deeply introverted and very daring. I can feel both those things working.

I was never less alone than when by myself.

I was kinda shy in school, but I also had the class-clown element about me. I was removed, but I was involved.

I was just confused about why I was feeling overwhelmed all the time and trying to adjust to having people work for me. Surprisingly, I think if you’re known on the Internet, you’re probably an introvert.

I want to be alone… with someone else who wants to be alone.

I want someone who will leave me alone most of the time. So I can share my entire life with him/her.

I want someone I can share my entire life with who will leave me alone most of the time.

I think that’s the single best piece of advice: constantly think about how you could be doing things better and questioning yourself.

I wish, as well as everybody else, to be perfectly happy; but like everybody else, it must be in my own way.

I’m an ocean, because I’m really deep. If you search deep enough you can find rare exotic treasures.

I’m a very simple person who hides thousands of feelings behind a smile.

I’ll be honest with you, I’m a little bit of a loner. It’s been a big part of my maturing process to learn to allow people to support me. I tend to be very self-reliant and private. And I have this history of wanting to work things out on my own and protect people from what’s going on with me.

I’m kind of an introvert kind of person just by nature, it’s not like a conscious choice that I’m making necessarily. […] Coming to realize that about myself was very empowering.

I’m very picky with whom I give my energy to. I prefer to reserve my time, intensity and spirit exclusively to those who reflect sincerity.

I’m shy, paranoid, whatever word you want to use. I hate fame. I’ve done everything I can to avoid it.

I’m self-sufficient. I spend a lot of time on my own and I shut off quite easily. When I communicate, I communicate per cent; then I shut off, which scares people sometimes.

Inside myself is a place where I live all alone, and that’s where I renew my springs that never dry up.

My imagination functions much better when I don’t have to speak to people.

My personal hobbies are reading, listening to music, and silence.

People say things to me like, ‘It’s really cool that you don’t go out and get drunk all the time and go to clubs.’ I appreciate that, but I’m kind of an introverted kind of person just by nature.

Sometimes I just shut down and don’t talk to anyone for days. It’s nothing personal.

The only thing I bring to social gathering is excuses to leave early.

When I was young, all I wanted and expected from life was to sit quietly in some corner doing my work without the public paying attention to me. And now see what has become of me.

When you’re an introvert like me and you’ve been lonely for a while, and then you find someone who understands you, you become really attached to them. It’s a real release.

You can be a very charismatic introvert.

The limited circle is pure.

The happiest of all lives is a busy solitude.

The greatest art is to sit, wait and let it come.

The flower that smells the sweetest is shy and lowly.

Wealth is the product of man’s capacity to think.

Your introversion is a gift that doesn’t need to be cured of fixed.

A happy life must be to a great extent a quiet life, for it is only in an atmosphere of quiet that true joy dare live.

A little hibernation is good for the mind.

A shy man no doubt dreads the notice of strangers, but can hardly be said to be afraid of them, he may be as bold as a hero in battle, and yet have no self-confidence about trifles in the presence of strangers.

A wise man once said nothing.

All sorrow has its root in man’s inability to sit quiet in a room by himself.

An inability to stay quiet is one of the conspicuous failings of mankind.

At the center of your being you have the answer; you know who you are and you know what you want.

Be a loner. That gives you time to wonder, to search for the truth. Have holy curiosity. Make your life worth living.

Be nice to nerds. Chances are you’ll end up working for one.

Be quiet, so that life may speak.

Being noticed can be a burden. Jesus got himself crucified because he got himself noticed. So I disappear a lot.

Being quiet is fine, most people don’t listen anyways.

At Uber, we say, ‘Always be hustling.’ Even if you are an introvert and you haven’t got hustle in you, you better get a co-founder who does. And if you haven’t got enough hustle to find a co-founder who’s got hustle, it’s going to be tough. You’ve got to have a little hustle in you.

Being quiet is good, you can keep yourself safe from other people attentions.

Better to keep quiet and let people think you’re an idiot than speak up and confirm it.

Blessed are those who do not fear solitude, who are not afraid of their own company, who are not always desperately looking for something to do, something to amuse them with, and something to judge.

Companionship is a foreign concept to some people. They fear it as much as the majority of people fear loneliness.

Confident introverts don’t avoid social situations. They just make wise choices.

Deep inside, she knew who she was, and that person was smart and kind and often even funny, but somehow her personality always got lost somewhere between her heart and her mouth, and she found herself saying the wrong thing or, more often, nothing at all.

Deep rivers run quiet.

Do not underestimate the determination of a quiet man.

Don’t think silence is empty. It’s full of answers.

E-mail is far more convenient than the telephone. As far as I’m concerned, I would throw my phone away if I could get away with it.

Everybody has a secret world inside of them. I mean everybody. All of the people in the whole world, I mean everybody

Everyone shines, given the right lighting.

He who knows does not speak. He who speaks does not know.

If you meet a loner, no matter what they tell you, it’s not because they enjoy solitude. It’s because they have tried to blend into the world before, and people continue to disappoint them.

Inside was where she lived, physically and mentally. She resided in the horn of plenty of her own prodigious mind, fertilized by inexhaustible curiosity.

It is not the mountain we conquer but ourselves.

It’s never a good idea to organize society in a way that depletes the energy of half the population. We discovered this with women decades ago, and now it’s time to realize it with introverts.

Lighthouses don’t go running all over an island looking for boats to save; they just stand there shining.

Nowhere can man find a quieter or more untroubled retreat than in his own soul.

One of the strongest motives that lead men to art and science is escape from everyday life. A finely tempered nature longs to escape from the personal life into the world of objective perception and thought.

Originality thrives in seclusion free of outside influences beating upon us to cripple the creative mind. Be alone

Our greatest strength lies in the gentleness and tenderness of our heart.

Shyness is inherently uncomfortable; introversion is not. The traits do overlap, though psychologists debate to what degree.

So many people are shut up tight inside themselves like boxes, yet they would open up, unfolding quite wonderfully, if only you were interested in them.

Some animals naturally carry shelter wherever they go, and some humans are just the same.

Stay true to your own nature. If you like to do things in a slow and steady way, don’t let others make you feel as if you have to race. If you enjoy depth, don’t force yourself to seek breadth.

The loner who looks fabulous is one of the most vulnerable loners of all.

The mind of an introvert is truly complex. We want solitude yet the feeling of loneliness cripples.

The monotony and solitude of a quiet life stimulates the creative mind.

The more powerful and original a mind, the more it will incline towards the religion of solitude.

The most important thing to know about being an introvert is that there’s nothing wrong with you. You’re not broken because you’re quiet. It’s okay to stay home on a Friday night instead of going to a party. Being an introvert is a perfectly normal ‘thing’ to be.

The most introspective of souls are often those that have been hurt the most.

The one who follows the crowd will usually go no further than the crowd. Those who walk alone are likely to find themselves in places no one has ever been before.

The secret to life is to put yourself in the right lighting. For some it’s a Broadway spotlight, for others, a lamplit desk.

The trick with introverts is for them to honor their styles instead of allowing themselves to be swept up by prevailing norms.

There’s zero correlation between being the best talker and having the best ideas.

Understand that half the game is keeping quiet, and carefully watching those around you.

We are not anti-social; we’re differently social.

We do not need magic to transform our world. We carry all the power we need inside ourselves already. We have the power to imagine better.

We need to do teacher training to educate them about what temperament means. Shyness is painful and you want to help a child with shyness – but the underlying temperament of being a careful, sensitive person is to be honoured, valued and respected.

Whatever kind of introvert you are, some people will find you ‘too much’ in some ways and ‘not enough’ in others.

When a quiet introvert talks, heads turn, and that’s power.

When someone speaks to an introvert, her brain responds with a high level of activity. It is as if several lights start flashing on a control panel.

Wise men, when in doubt whether to speak or to keep quiet, give themselves the benefit of the doubt, and remain silent.

You do not need to leave your room. Remain sitting at your table and listen. Do not even listen, simply wait, be quiet, still and solitary. The world will freely offer itself to you to be unmasked, it has no choice, it will roll in ecstasy at your feet.

You might be an introvert if you were ready to go home before you left the house.

I was quiet but I was not blind.

Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak out and remove all doubt.

I can be very shy…but when I’m around people I know, I can be extremely loud.

I talked to a calzone for fifteen minutes last night before I realized it was just an introverted pizza. I wish all my acquaintances were so tasty.

I would rather sit on a pumpkin and have it all to myself than be crowded on a velvet cushion.

Telling an introvert to go to a party is like telling a saint to go to Hell.

Introverts are amazing listeners.They will really take time to fully hear you without judging or patronizing you.

Introvert Quotes Love

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What if you love knowledge for its own sake, not necessarily as a blueprint to action? What if you wish there were more, not fewer reflective types in the world.

What a lovely surprise to discover how unlonely being alone can be.

The highest form of love is to be the protector of another person’s solitude.

Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. To these I commit my day.

Love is essential, gregariousness is optional.

I loved to make people laugh in high school, and then I found I loved being on stage in front of people. I’m sure that’s some kind of ego trip or a way to overcome shyness. I was very kind of shy and reserved, so there’s a way to be on stage and be performing and balance your life out.

I love to be alone. I never found the companion that was so companionable as solitude.

I love mankind… it’s people I can’t stand!!

I am not boring or shy. I am an introvert, an artist, a lover, a dreamer, a fighter, a seeker.

I am an extro-introvert. […] I love all of the excitement and I like meeting people and hearing their stories. But I also like time alone. And I like to think and relax and sleep and stuff like that. So I guess I’m a little of both.

Don’t feel stupid if you don’t like what everyone else pretends to love.

Cancelling plans is my favorite. And I like empty bookstores, rainy days and thunderstorms. And quiet coffee shops. Messy beds and over-worn pajamas make me comfortable. Most of all, I love to live with the small joys that a simple life brings to me.

At the end of the day, you won’t be happy until you love yourself.

As an introvert, you crave intimate moments and deep connections – and those usually aren’t found in a crowd.

My alone feels so good, I’ll only have you if you’re sweeter than my solitude.

Either you are extrovert or introvert, and so I am an introvert in that sense. I’m not a social person that wants to go to parties.

Often confused with shyness, introversion does not imply social reticence or discomfort. Rather than being averse to social engagement, introverts become overwhelmed by too much of it, which explains why the introvert is ready to leave a party after an hour and the extravert gains steam as the night goes on.

I’m very shy so I became very outgoing to protect my shyness.

While extroverts are verbal processors, who speak as they think, introverts need to think before we speak. This leads to a slower, more thoughtful communication style that involves fewer words, and longer pauses.

We’re told that to be great is to be bold, to be happy is to be sociable. We see ourselves as a nation of extroverts

They say that extroverts are unhappier than introverts and have to compensate for this by constantly proving to themselves how happy and contented and at ease with life they are.

The world introvert has negative connotations that need to be destroyed. Introverts are simply misunderstood because the majority of the population consists of extroverts.

Our culture made a virtue of living only as extroverts. We discouraged the inner journey, the quest for a center. So we lost our center and have to find it again.

Most people who have grown up introverted in this very extroverted culture of ours have had painful experiences of feeling like they are out of step with what’s expected of them.

Many introverts feel there’s something wrong with them, and try to pass as extroverts. But whenever you try to pass as something you’re not, you lose a part of yourself along the way. You especially lose a sense of how to spend your time.

Isn’t it refreshing to know that what comes perfectly natural for you is your greatest strength? Your power is in your nature. You may not think it’s a big deal that you can spend hours immersed in something that interests you

In an extroverted society, the difference between an introvert and an extrovert is that an introvert is often unconsciously deemed guilty until proven innocent.

I’m continually amazed by how many people who appear to be extroverts are actually introverts.

Extroverts sparkle, introverts glow. Extroverts are fireworks, introverts are a fire in the hearth.

Extroverts are more likely to take a quick-and-dirty approach to problem-solving, trading accuracy for speed, making increasing numbers of mistakes as they go, and abandoning ship altogether when the problem seems too difficult or frustrating. Introverts think before they act, digest information thoroughly, stay on task longer, give up less easily, and work more accurately.

Extroversion is an enormously appealing personality style, but we’ve turned it into an oppressive standard to which most of us feel we must conform.

Envy is one attribute of extrovert population. Introverts are too busy with their inner reflections.

As an introvert, you can be your own best friend or your worst enemy. The good news is we generally like our own company, a quality that extroverts often envy. We find comfort in solitude and know how to soothe ourselves.