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.

What looks like multitasking is really switching back and forth between multiple tasks, which reduces productivity and increases mistakes by up to 50 percent.

Solitude matters. And for some people it's the air they breathe.

There's zero correlation between being the best talker and having the best ideas.

we have two ears and one mouth and we should use them proportionally

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.

Introverts are capable of acting like extroverts for the sake of work they consider important, people they love, or anything they value highly.

It's as if they have thinner boundaries separating them from other people's emotions and from the tragedies and cruelties of the world.

I'm continually amazed by how many people who appear to be extroverts are actually introverts.

Cross the street to avoid making aimless chitchat with random acquaintances.

Shyness is the fear of social disapproval or humiliation, while introversion is a preference for environments that are not overstimulating. Shyness is inherently painful; introversion is not.

The pressure to entertain, to sell ourselves, and never to be visibly anxious keeps ratcheting up.

Solve problems, make art, think deeply.

Love is essential, gregariousness is optional.

I prefer listening to talking, reading to socializing... I like to think before I speak (softly).

[Introverts,] the world needs you and it needs the things you carry. So I wish you the best of all possible journeys and the courage to speak softly.

Our lives are shaped as profoundly by personality as by gender or race. And the single most important aspect of personality ... is where we fall on the introvert-extrovert spectrum.

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 extroversion mostly through its positive side.

Shyness is inherently uncomfortable; introversion is not. The traits do overlap, though psychologists debate to what degree.

Introverts living under the Extroversion Ideal are like women in a man's world, discounted because of a trait that goes to the core of who they are.

Being relatively unmoved by rewards gives you the incalculable power to go your own way.

Solitude is one of our great superpowers... Solitude is the key to being able to make effective decisions and then having the courage of convictions to stand behind those decisions.

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.

Scores of studies have shown that venting doesn't soothe anger; it fuels it.

Don't think of introversion as something that needs to be cured.

There is no one more courageous than the person who speaks with the courage of his convictions.

Open-plan offices have been found to reduce productivity and impair memory. They’re associated with high staff turnover. They make people sick, hostile, unmotivated, and insecure.

What if you love knowledge for its own sake, not necessarily as a blueprint to action? What if you wish there were more, not fewer reflective types in the world?

Our culture is biased against quiet and reserved people, but introverts are responsible for some of humanity's greatest achievements.

Introverts need to trust their gut and share their ideas as powerfully as they can.

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 and pathology.

Everyone shines, given the right lighting.

Introversion - along with its cousins sensitivity, seriousness, and shyness - is now a second-class personality trait, somewhere between a disappointment and a pathology.

Any time people come together in a meeting, we're not necessarily getting the best ideas; we're just getting the ideas of the best talkers.

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 step with what's expected of them.

It's never a good idea to organize society in a way that depletes the energy of half the population.

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.

(Finland is a famously introverted nation. Finnish joke: How can you tell if a Finn likes you? He's staring at your shoes instead of his own.)

I look back on my years as a Wall Street lawyer as time spent in a foreign country.

Introverts often work more slowly and deliberately. They like to focus on one task at a time and can have mighty powers of concentration . They're relatively immune to the lures of wealth and fame.

Introverts .. may have strong social skills and enjoy parties and business meetings, but after a while wish they were home in their pajamas.

We have a two-tier class system when it comes to personality style. To devalue introversion is a waste of talent, energy and happiness.

Our culture rightly admires risk-takers, but we need our 'heed-takers' more than ever.

Introverts prefer to work independently, and solitude can be a catalyst to innovation.

The bias against introversion leads to a colossal waste of talent, energy, and happiness.

We put too much of a premium on presenting and not enough on substance and critical thinking.

The purpose of school should be to prepare kids for the rest of their lives, but too often what kids need to be prepared for is surviving the school day itself.

Jealousy is an ugly emotion, but it tells the truth. You mostly envy those who have what you desire.

We don't need giant personalities to transform companies. We need leaders who build not their own egos but the institutions they run.

The secret to life is to put yourself in the right lighting.