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Susan Cain

Susan Cain Quotes

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Famous Susan Cain Quotes

“The next time you see a person with a composed face and a soft voice, remember that inside her mind she might be solving an equation, composing a sonnet, designing a hat. She might, that is, be deploying the power of quiet.”

MindPersonsMightRememberFacesNextVoiceDesignQuietHatsNext TimeEquationsSonnetComposingDeploying
Book:Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking
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“But when the group is literally capable of changing our perceptions, and when to stand alone is to activate primitive, powerful, and unconscious feelings of rejection, then the health of these institutions seems far more vulnerable than we think.”

ThinkingFeelingsSeemsPowerfulGroupsPerceptionCapableInstitutionsVulnerableRejectionUnconsciousPrimitiveStand AloneActivate
Book:Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking
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“We don’t ask why God chose as his prophet a stutterer with a public speaking phobia. But we should. The book of Exodus is short on explication, but its stories suggest that introversion plays yin to the yang of extroversion; that the medium is not always the message; and that people followed Moses because his words were thoughtful, not because he spoke them well.”

PeopleShouldWellsBookPlayStoriesAsksMessagesMediumsProphetThoughtfulSpokesMosesPublic SpeakingPhobiaIntroversionYangExodus
Book:Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking
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“Or at school you might have been prodded to come “out of your shell”—that noxious expression which fails to appreciate that some animals naturally carry shelter everywhere they go, and that some humans are just the same.”

HumansHas BeensMightSchoolAnimalFailingExpressionAppreciateShelterShellsIntrovertMight Have Been
Book:Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking
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“As a young boy, Charles Darwin made friends easily but preferred to spend his time taking long, solitary nature walks. (As an adult he was no different. “My dear Mr. Babbage,” he wrote to the famous mathematician who had invited him to a dinner party, “I am very much obliged to you for sending me cards for your parties, but I am afraid of accepting them, for I should meet some people there, to whom I have sworn by all the saints in Heaven, I never go out.”)”

PeopleShouldLongMadeDifferentYoungHeavenWalksPartyAcceptingBoysAdultsDearSaintDinnerCardsSolitaryMathematicianInvitedObligedDinner PartyNature Walk
Author:Susan Cain
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“Introverts, in contrast, may have strong social skills and enjoy parties and business meetings, but after a while wish they were home in their pajamas. They prefer to devote their social energies to close friends, colleagues, and family. They listen more than they talk, think before they speak, and often feel as if they express themselves better in writing than in conversation. They tend to dislike conflict. Many have a horror of small talk, but enjoy deep discussions.”

IfsThinkingFeelsWritingMayHomeEnergySpeakStrongWishSocialEnjoyPartyHorrorSkillsConversationConflictMeetingsDiscussionDislikeContrastIntrovertColleaguesClose FriendsPajamasIntroversionSmall TalkSocial SkillsBusiness Meeting
Author:Susan Cain
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“The secret to life is to put yourself in the right lighting. For some, it's a Broadway spotlight; for others, a lamplit desk. Use your natural powers -- of persistence, concentration, and insight -- to do work you love and work that matters. Solve problems. make art, think deeply.”

ThinkingArtMatterUseProblemLife IsNaturalSecretInsightSolvePersistenceConcentrationDesksBroadwayLightingSpotlightWork You Love
Book:Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking
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“I had always imagined Rosa Parks as a stately woman with a bold temperament, someone who could easily stand up to a busload of glowering passengers. But when she died in 2005 at the age of ninety-two, the flood of obituaries recalled her as soft-spoken, sweet, and small in stature. They said she was "timid and shy" but had "the courage of a lion." They were full of phrases like "radical humility" and "quiet fortitude.”

SaidTwoAgeHumilitySweetQuietDiedRadicalPhrasesParksShyLionsFloodThey SaidNinetyTemperamentFortitudePassengersStatureRosaObituary
Book:Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking
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“Schwartz's research suggests something important: we can stretch our personalities, but only up to a point. Our inborn temperaments influence us, regardless of the lives we lead. A sizeable part of who we are is ordained by our genes, by our brains, by our nervous systems. And yet the elasticity that Schwartz found in some of the high-reactive teens also suggests the converse: we have free will and can use it to shape our personalities.”

ImportantUseFoundBrainInfluencePersonalityShapesResearchNervousWho We AreFree WillGenesTeensTemperamentNervous SystemConversesElasticity
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“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. It's so easy to confuse schmoozing ability with talent. Someone seems like a good presenter, easy to get along with, and those traits are rewarded. Well, why is that? They're valuable traits, but we put too much of a premium on presenting and not enough on substance and critical thinking.”

PeopleThinkingWellsIdeasEnoughSeemsEasyAbilityWorryToo MuchTalentPositionAuthorityValuableCriticalSubstanceGood IdeasTraitsCritical ThinkingPresentingEasy To GetTalkersPremiumPresenterSchmoozing
Author:Susan Cain
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“We know from myths and fairy tales that there are many different kinds of powers in this world. One child is given a light saber, another a wizard's education. The trick is not to amass all the different kinds of power, but to use well the kind you've been granted.”

KnowsWorldWellsKindChildrenDifferentUseLightGivenThis WorldMythTricksTalesGrantedFairyDifferent KindsFairy TaleWizards
Book:Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking
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“Introversion- along with its cousins sensitivity, seriousness, and shyness- is now a second-class personality trait, somewhere between a disappointment and a pathology. Introverts living in the Extrovert Ideal are like women in a man's world, discounted because of a trait that goes to the core of who they are. Extroversion is an enormously appealing personality style, but we've turned it into an oppressive standard to which most of us feel we must conform.”

MenWorldFeelsClassStylePersonalityStandardsIdealsDisappointmentCoreTraitsIntrovertConformSensitivityCousinSeriousnessShynessIntroversionPathologyExtrovertsPersonality Traits
Book:Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking
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“So stay true to your own nature. If you like to do things in a slow and steady way, don't let others make you feel as if you have to race. If you enjoy depth, don't force yourself to seek breadth. If you prefer single-tasking to multi-tasking, stick to your guns. Being relatively unmoved by rewards gives you the incalculable power to go your own way.”

IfsWayGivingFeelsForceEnjoyRaceGunSticksRewardsDepthSteadyStay TrueBreadthSlow And SteadyMulti Tasking
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“Theodor Geisel (otherwise known as Dr. Seuss) spent his workdays ensconced in his private studio, the walls lined with sketches and drawings, in a bell-tower outside his La Jolla, California, house. Geisel was a much more quiet man than his jocular rhymes suggest. He rarely ventured out in public to meet his young readership, fretting that kids would expect a merry, outspoken, Cat in the Hat–like figure, and would be disappointed with his reserved personality. “In mass, [children] terrify me,” he admitted.”

MenChildrenWould BeKidsYoungHouseKnownFiguresWallPersonalityQuietMassCatStudiosDrawingCaliforniaHatsDisappointedBellsTowersDrsRhymeMerryReservedOutspokenReadershipFrettingQuiet Man
Book:Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking
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“Indeed, your biggest challenge may be to fully harness your strengths. You may be so busy trying to appear like a zestful, reward-sensitive extrovert that you undervalue your own talents, or feel underestimated by those around you. But when you’re focused on a project that you care about, you probably find that your energy is boundless.”

FeelsTryingMayCareEnergyChallengesTalentProjectsRewardsBusyFocusedSensitiveBoundlessHarnessUnderestimatedExtroverts
Author:Susan Cain
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“Introverts need to trust their gut and share their ideas as powerfully as they can. This does not mean aping extroverts; ideas can be shared quietly, they can be communicated in writing, they can be packaged into highly produced lectures, they can be advanced by allies. The trick for introverts is to honor their own styles instead of allowing themselves to be swept up by prevailing norms.”

NeedsWritingMeanDoeIdeasShareStyleHonorTricksGutsAllowingAlliesIntrovertNormLecturesPrevailingExtroverts
Book:Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking
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“Now that you're an adult, you might still feel a pang of guilt when you decline a dinner invitation in favor of a good book. Or maybe you like to eat alone in restaurants and could do without the pitying looks from fellow diners. Or you're told that you're "in your head too much", a phrase that's often deployed against the quiet and cerebral. Or maybe there's another word for such people: thinkers.”

PeopleFeelsLooksStillsBookMightToo MuchQuietAdultsFellowsGuiltDinnerFavorsPhrasesRestaurantsThinkerDeclineIntrovertInvitationsGood BookCerebralDiners
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“Persistence isn't very glamorous. If genius is one percent inspiration and ninety-nine percent perspiration, then as a culture we tend to lionize the one percent. We love its flash and dazzle. But great power lies in the other ninety-nine percent.”

IfsInspirationLyingCultureGeniusPercentNinePersistenceFlashNinetyGlamorousGreat PowerNinety NineDazzlePerspiration
Book:Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking
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