started off my life as a really shy person. I always sort of pulled back from a lot of things not because I didn’t want to do them but because I was shy, even till university. There are so many examples I can give

I was shy as a child. Now I'm not really shy any more, unless I'm with shy people. I find it contagious and I don't know what to say. But I don't think shyness is something one should feel apologetic about.

And as a few strokes on the nose will make a puppy head shy, so a few rebuffs will make a boy shy all over. But whereas a puppy will cringe away or roll on its back, groveling, a little boy may cover his shyness with nonchalance, with bravado, or with secrecy. And once a boy has suffered rejection, he will find rejection even where it does not exist — or, worse, will draw it forth from people simply by expecting it.

I was terribly shy when I was young, I was so bland, they kept having to introduce me again and again before people noticed me.

I felt suddenly shy. I was not used to shy. I was used to shame. Shyness is when you turn your head away from something you want. Shame is when you turn your head away from something you do not want.

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.

I think it was. I think growing up very shy, it was easier for me to block out things going on around me and that’s very helpful when you’re on the balance beam and there’s a million different things going on. I just could very naturally do that. And it really became a skill.

Growing up, I was always really shy about my body.

I was also very shy as a kid, but being part of a team made me socialize with other kids and open up as a person. I believe that I wouldn’t be the same person if it wasn’t for football.

It is awkward to listen to oneself being praised, and I was always a shy man.

I don't often use the word pride. Even if sometimes the feeling is there, I can't quite admit it to myself, I try to keep humility. But looking back, I think I'm pretty proud to be where I am today. Especially when I think back to the shy and withdrawn child that I could have been. I suffered, like surely many children, from a lack of confidence. This is also why my journey began by chance, and why it was arranged in a somewhat winding way.

Shyness is always the sign of a divided soul; a man is shy because he somehow thinks his position at once despicable and important. If he were without humility he would not care; and if he were without pride he would not care.

I was a very shy child, but whenever I had to participate in a pageant, I was forced outside of my comfort zone, which I feel is one of the biggest life lessons I learned from my mother. We only grow when we are outside of what is familiar and easy.

I am quite shy sometimes. I do have some social anxiety. I am soft-spoken. But I'm quite ferocious. I think to be labeled as someone who is a pushover has been the hardest thing to get out of in terms of my personal and professional life.