“The level of shyness has gone up dramatically in the last decade. I think shyness is an index of social pathology rather than a pathology of the individual.”
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―
“One is always half mad when one is shy of people.”
― Jakob von Gunten
― Jakob von Gunten
“But she wished she had had the guts to go up to him and say hello. Or possibly break his legs, she wasn't sure which.”
― The Girl Who Played with Fire
― The Girl Who Played with Fire
“Once in camp I put a log on a fire and it was full of ants. As it commenced to burn, the ants swarmed out and went first toward the center where the fire was; then turned back and ran toward the end. When there were enough on the end they fell off into the fire. Some got out, their bodies burnt and flattened, and went off not knowing where they were going. But most of them went toward the fire and then back toward the end and swarmed on the cool end and finally fell off into the fire. I remember thinking at the time that it was the end of the world and a splendid chance to be a messiah and lift the log off the fire and throw it out where the ants could get off onto the ground. But I did not do anything but throw a tin cup of water on the log, so that I would have the cup empty to put whiskey in before I added water to it. I think the cup of water on the burning log only steamed the ants.”
― A Farewell to Arms
― A Farewell to Arms
“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.”
― Sense and Sensibility
― Sense and Sensibility
Cheryl’s 2025 Year in Books
Take a look at Cheryl’s Year in Books, including some fun facts about their reading.
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