Susan Cain quotes - page 3

We moved from what cultural historians call a culture of character to a culture of personality. During the culture of character, what was important was the good deeds that you performed when nobody was looking. ... But at the turn of the (20th) century, when we moved into this culture of personality, suddenly what was admired was to be magnetic and charismatic. (Susan Cain)
Groups follow the most charismatic person, even though there is no correlation between being a good speaker and having great ideas. View quote
Susan Cain
We can stretch our personalities, but only up to a point. Bill Gates is never going to be Bill Clinton, no matter how he polishes his social skills, and Bill Clinton can never be Bill Gates, no matter how much time he spends alone with a computer. View quote
Susan Cain
The bias against introversion leads to a colossal waste of talent, energy, and happiness. View quote
Susan Cain
Shyness is inherently uncomfortable; introversion is not. The traits do overlap, though psychologists debate to what degree. View quote
Susan Cain
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 what that looks like? View quote
Susan Cain
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. View quote
Susan Cain
As a parent, if give yourself what you need, your children will watch you doing that and will give themselves what they need. View quote
Susan Cain
To some extent, we've always had an admiration for extroversion in our culture. But the extrovert ideal really came to play at the turn of the 20th century when we had the rise of big business. View quote
Susan Cain
Many people believe that introversion is about being antisocial, and that's really a misperception. Because actually it's just that introverts are differently social. So they would prefer to have a glass of wine with a close friend as opposed to going to a loud party full of strangers. View quote
Susan Cain
Some introverts are perfectly comfortable with public speaking; I'm not one of them. (Susan Cain)
Your tendency to be inward-directed or outward-directed is huge; it governs every part of the way you live and work and love. View quote
Susan Cain
I actually find extroversion to be a really appealing personality style. View quote
Susan Cain
Even when the attention focused on me is positive, I am uncomfortable being looked at by a lot of people - it's just not my natural state of being. View quote
Susan Cain
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 going to be a high-stimulation environment. Probably the best way of teaching in general is one on one, but that's not something everyone can afford. View quote
Susan Cain
I use a lot of old-fashioned expressions. View quote
Susan Cain
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 restore the respect we once had for solitude. And we need to be much more mindful of the way we come together. View quote
Susan Cain
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. View quote
Susan Cain
I've wanted to be a writer since I was four years old! View quote
Susan Cain
It's not that pain equals art. It's that creativity has the power to look pain in the eye, and to decide to turn it into something better. ... The quest to transform pain into beauty is one of the great catalysts of artistic expression. View quote
Susan Cain
The very highest states-of awe and joy, wonder and love, meaning and creativity-emerge from this bittersweet nature of reality. We experience them not because life is perfect-but because it's not. (Susan Cain)
Living in a bittersweet state, with an intense awareness of life's fragility and the pain of separation, is an underappreciated strength and an unexpected path to wisdom, joy, and especially communion. View quote
Susan Cain
There are only a few people out there who can completely overcome their fears, and they all live in Tibet. View quote
Susan Cain
I'm continually amazed by how many people who appear to be extroverts are actually introverts. View quote
Susan Cain
I'm insatiably curious about human nature. View quote
Susan Cain