All Susan Cain Quotes
- Opposites attract, and I think temperament is so fundamental that you end up craving someone of the opposite temperament to complete you. Attract
- Shyness is inherently uncomfortable; introversion is not. The traits do overlap, though psychologists debate to what degree. Debate
- Some introverts are perfectly comfortable with public speaking; I'm not one of them. Comfortable
- Your tendency to be inward-directed or outward-directed is huge; it governs every part of the way you live and work and love. Directed
- A widely held, but rarely articulated, belief in our society is that the ideal self is bold, alpha, gregarious. Introversion is viewed somewhere between disappointment… Alpha
- All personality traits have their good side and their bad side. But for a long time, we've seen introversion only through its negative side and… All
- I think the shyness one feels in childhood is often overcome with time. There are children who hide behind their parents' legs, but you don't… Behind
- I'm not saying abolish group work - I think there's a time and a place for people to come together and exchange ideas, but let's… Abolish
- In a way, education by its nature favours the extrovert because you are taking kids and putting them into a big classroom, which is automatically… Afford
- In most job interviews, people say they are looking for people skills and emotional intelligence. That's reasonable, but the question is, how do you define… Define
- In our society, the ideal self is bold, gregarious, and comfortable in the spotlight. We like to think that we value individuality, but mostly we… Admire
- The glory of the disposition that stops to consider stimuli rather than rushing to engage with them is its long association with intellectual and artistic… Achievement
- Every American was to become a performing self. American
- The emphasis is on community, on participating in more and more programs and events, on meeting more and more people. It’s a constant tension for… Community
- I worry that there are people who are put in positions of authority because they're good talkers, but they don't have good ideas. Authority
- One honest relationship can be more productive than fistfuls of business cards. Business
- 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… Culture
- It's never a good idea to organize society in a way that depletes the energy of half the population. Depletes
- If you enjoy depth, don't force yourself to seek breadth. If you prefer single-tasking to multi-tasking, stick to your guns. Breadth
- Our culture is biased against quiet and reserved people, but introverts are responsible for some of humanity's greatest achievements. Achievement
- 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… Adventure
- We've known about the transcendent power of solitude for centuries; it's only recently that we've forgotten it. Centuries
- I look back on my years as a Wall Street lawyer as time spent in a foreign country... Country
- Being relatively unmoved by rewards gives you the incalculable power to go your own way. Gives
- Our culture rightly admires risk-takers, but we need our 'heed-takers' more than ever. Admire