William Wordsworth
Poet
"The flower that smells the sweetest is shy and lowly."
Shy quotes
Shy
458 quotes on this topic — from poets, philosophers, and thinkers across history.
Al Pacino
Actor, Filmmaker
"I'm so shy now I wear sunglasses everywhere I go."
Johnny Depp
Actor, Producer
"I'm shy, paranoid, whatever word you want to use. I hate fame. I've done everything I can to avoid it."
Hillel the Elder
Religious Leader, Scholar
"The shy man will not learn; the impatient man should not teach."
Al Pacino
Actor, Filmmaker
"My first language was shy. It's only by having been thrust into the limelight that I have learned to cope with my shyness."
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Topics related to Shy
Browse quotes that often appear alongside shy — connected by shared ideas and recurring themes.
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Shy quotes (page 1 of 23)
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"I've always had to conquer fear when I'm on stage. Basically, I was and still am a very shy person. It's absolutely in conflict with what I do. But once I deliver the first joke I'm okay. It's like I'm out there all by myself just delivering my lines to nobody in particular without ever trying to notice the audience in front of me."
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"I'm shy, but when the time comes to be wild, I'm fun-loving, adventurous, and mysterious."
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"The year I turned 26, as the head of my own brokerage firm, I made $49 million, which really pissed me off because it was three shy of a million a week."
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"I never wish to offend, but I am so foolishly shy, that I often seem negligent, when I am only kept back by my natural awkwardness ... Shyness is only the effect of a sense of inferiority in some way or other. If I could persuade myself that my manners were perfectly easy and graceful, I should not be shy."
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"The man form is higher than the angel form; of all forms it is the highest. Man is the highest being in creation, because he aspires to freedom."
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"I'm just a shy and retreating kind of person. Sometimes I get in a real talkative mood - but not very often."
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"Writing is showbusiness for shy people. That's how I see it."
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"I'm very shy really. I spend a lot of time in my room alone reading or writing or watching television."
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"There is a shyness about me, and I really need to get out more."
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"We get shy about saying things like I love you. Life is so short. It's crazy, that we hesitate to express our true thoughts to each other."
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"I think when people see that you are shy, or even just calm, collected and reserved, they think you can be pushed around, made to do everything they want - but that's definitely not true of me. The people closest to me know that's not the case. They know I'm not a pushover."
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"I used to feel so shy speaking to girls. It was even worse when they were around their crew because they would diss me."
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"I was always very shy but as I get older I think, What am I being shy for? You just grow weary of your own hang-ups."
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"There isn't a performer on earth that isn't an exhibitionist. There isn't any point in being in this business if you're not an exhibitionist. And, by the way, you can be an exhibitionist and be very shy as well."
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"Lots of shy people dress a bit too much. It's just kind of an armour. People say the same thing about me."
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"I'm very shy. That's probably one of the reasons I got so heavily into drugs."
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"I'm not afraid of anyone. I'm not shy about anything. Not even my big nose."
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"The more that we choose not to talk about domestic violence, the more we shy away from the issue, the more we lose."
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"A shy failure is nobler than an immodest success."
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"I was a fairly shy person - not the hand raising type."
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