Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Poet, Playwright, Novelist
"Great endowments often announce themselves in youth in the form of singularity and awkwardness."
Awkward quotes
Awkward
361 quotes on this topic — from poets, philosophers, and thinkers across history.
Plutarch
Philosopher, Historian
"As bees extract honey from thyme, the strongest and driest of herbs, so sensible men often get advantage and profit from the most awkward circumstances."
Zadie Smith
Novelist, Essayist
"She wore her sexuality with an older woman's ease, and not like an awkward purse, never knowing how to hold it, where to hang it, or when to just put it down."
Alfred Adler
Psychologist
"Every therapeutic cure, and still more, any awkward attempt to show the patient the truth, tears him from the cradle of his freedom from responsibility and must therefore reckon with the most vehement resistance."
Phoebe Stone
Artist
"Not belonging is a terrible feeling. It feels awkward and it hurts, as if you were wearing someone else's shoes."
Explore further
Topics related to Awkward
Browse quotes that often appear alongside awkward — connected by shared ideas and recurring themes.
Quote collection
Awkward quotes (page 1 of 19)
Follow a thought to its author, or read the full quote page.
"I never had any awkward situations with Shah Rukh."
Read quote
16 likes
"I was afraid to board a streetcar because of the conductor; I was afraid to enter the Kabuki Theater for fear of the usherettes standing along the sides of the red-carpeted staircase at the main entrance; I was afraid to go into a restaurant because I was intimidated by the waiters furtively hovering behind me waiting for my plate to be emptied."
Read quote
15 likes
"The moose is singularly grotesque and awkward to look at. Why should it stand so high at the shoulders? Why have so long a head? Why have no tail to speak of?"
Read quote
14 likes
"I'm a little bit awkward on Twitter; like, I'm never really sure what to say."
Read quote
11 likes
"In other people's company I felt I was dull, gloomy, unwelcome, at once bored and boring."
Read quote
10 likes
"There is nothing worse than the feeling that no one cares whether we exists or not, that no one is interested in what we have to say about life, and that the world can continue turning without our awkward presence"
Read quote
9 likes
"A new constitution should be more amendable. A needlessly confusing system of courts should be altered to produce an arrangement that would be simple, responsible, and less awkward."
Read quote
9 likes
"Don't have sex in the lobby - it's usually awkward."
Read quote
9 likes
"We had fun just messing around and being awkward like they would be awkward. There's always that stage in a friendship when you wonder whether it could be more."
Read quote
8 likes
"President Bush left for Canada today to attend a trade summit. Reportedly, the trade summit got off to an awkward start when the president pulled out his baseball cards."
Read quote
8 likes
"To understand is nothing, but to be understood-that is the problem and the source of anguish. The soul throbs and would have the other know-but can not and feels isolated. Then come gestures, words, awkward explanations and material symbols for imponderable outbursts of feeling-and the soul despairs."
Read quote
8 likes
"I felt little awkward about taking one boyfriend to see a film starring another boyfriend."
Read quote
8 likes
"I felt very awkward and out of place in school. Not popular, not attractive, not special in any way and I was longing for love and approval from someone."
Read quote
8 likes
"I'm the little half-black, half-Jewish girl who was odd and awkward. I try to be myself."
Read quote
8 likes
"Affectation is an awkward and forced imitation of what should be genuine and easy, wanting the beauty that accompanies what is natural."
Read quote
8 likes
"Maxwell is serious, dedicated, awkward, forgetful, pompous to a certain degree, sentimental."
Read quote
7 likes
"So many times you see beautiful lovemaking scenes with a lot of exposure or an awkward lovemaking scene, but I think it's very rare that you see it private."
Read quote
7 likes
"What's interesting is the show allows for the awkward pauses to be captured, which makes it stylistically unique, especially for American audiences."
Read quote
7 likes
"I think we're the only jokeless show on television. I mean really, we have no setups and no punch lines. It's not a joke show. There are funny lines and funny moments but again the comedy is born of the human experience and awkward pauses are a great part of what it is to be human."
Read quote
7 likes
"It's awkward: Here you are with most of your clothes off in bed with this person who you've really just met. You're strangers to each other's bodies and you're coming together for the first time in front of all these people."
Read quote
7 likes