Shy Sayings and Quotes

Below you will find our collection of inspirational, wise, and humorous old shy quotes, shy sayings, and shy proverbs, collected over the years from a variety of sources.

That's the poisoned chalice: when you're shy, people assume you're arrogant. Catherine Tate
All the shy people are doomed! Natural selection favors the loud and the aggressive. Dylan Moran
What troubles me is the Internet and the electronic technology revolution. Shyness is fueled in part by so many people spending huge amounts of time alone, isolated on e-mail, in chat rooms, which reduces their face-to-face contact with other people. Philip Zimbardo
But hopes are shy birds flying at a great distance, seldom reached by the best of guns. John James Audubon
Shyness is a curious thing, because, like quicksand, it can strike people at any time, and also, like quicksand, it usually makes its victims look down. Daniel Handler
Shy, like a hospitable country hostess anxious to give pleasure, but afraid that she has not much to offer citizens of a larger world. Phyllis Bottome
Do not be shy of those who are not shy. Albanian Proverb
He that wants should not be bashful. Italian Proverb
Who is shy dies from hunger. Albanian Proverb
Once burnt, twice shy. American Proverb
A shy cat makes a proud mouse. Scottish Proverb
The fact of the matter is that most actors are shy people. Roger Moore
Shyness isn't something that just children feel. Anybody can feel shy. And one reason we feel that way is that we're not sure other people will like us just the way we are. Fred Rogers
Not till the reserve ceases towards one's self; and then the attraction may be the greater. Emma
Shyness is only the effect of a sense of inferiority in some way or other. Jane Austen
Home is where the heart can laugh without shyness. Vernon Baker
In talking, shyness and timidity distort the very meaning of my words. I don't pretend to know anybody well. People are like shadows to me and I am like a shadow. Gwen John
Clothe yourself with shyness and armor yourself with loyalty. Ali Ibn Abi Talib
A place has almost a shyness of a person with strangers; its secret is not to be surprised by too direct interrogation. Arthur Symons
Many a man is praised for his reserve and so-called shyness when he is simply too proud to risk making a fool of himself. J. B. Priestley
I suffer as always from the fear of putting down the first line. It is amazing the terrors, the magics, the prayers, the straightening shyness that assail one. John Steinbeck
There was a magnificent human shining brightly behind her shy. Atticus
A woman's best jewellery is her shyness. Fatimah Az Zahra
Some people are so self-conscious that they are unable to make eye contact for longer than a second, even when they are wearing dark sunglasses. Mokokoma Mokhonoana
You know, if you could just overcome your shyness and learn not how to be so vague, speak your mind, yet, get to the point, you might get somewhere in this world. Joe Willis
It is not inertia alone that is responsible for human relationships repeating themselves from case to case, indescribably monotonous and unrenewed: it is shyness before any sort of new, unforeseeable experience with which one does not think oneself able to cope. But only someone who is ready for everything, who excludes nothing, not even the most enigmatical will live the relation to another as something alive. Jessica
When the shy star goes forth in heaven / All maidenly, disconsolate, / Hear you amid the drowsy even / One who is singing by your gate. / His song is softer than the dew / And he is come to visit you. James Joyce
My shy hand shades a hermitage apart, - / O large enough for thee, and thy brief hours. / Life there is sweeter held than in God's heart, / Stiller than in the heavens of hollow flowers. Wilfred Owen