Timidity Quotes

• All men are timid on entering any fight. Whether it is the first or the last fight, all of us are timid. Cowards are those who let their timidity get the better of their manhood.

  George S. Patton

  Military, Fighting, Men

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• And then, strange to say, the first symptom of true love in a young man is timidity; in a girl, it is boldness.

  Victor Hugo

  Love, Girl, Men

  "Hugo's Works: Les Miserables (St. Denis)".

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• Timidity puts obstacles in your path, boldness eliminates them.

  Paulo Coelho

  Path, Obstacles, Boldness

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• If you are unsure of a course of action, do not attempt it. Your doubts and hesitations will infect your execution. Timidity is dangerous: Better to enter with boldness. Any mistakes you commit through audacity are easily corrected with more audacity. Everyone admires the bold; no one honors the timid.

  Robert Greene

  Mistake, Honor, Doubt

  Robert Greene (2010). “The 48 Laws Of Power”, p.13, Profile Books

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• What is a fear of living? It's being preeminently afraid of dying. It is not doing what you came here to do, out of timidity and spinelessness. The antidote is to take full responsibility for yourself - for the time you take up and the space you occupy. If you don't know what you're here to do, then just do some good.

  Maya Angelou

  Positive, Responsibility, Space

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• Timid men prefer the calm of despotism to the tempestuous sea of liberty.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Freedom, 4th Of July, Men

  Thomas Jefferson (2010). “The Works of Thomas Jefferson: Correspondence 1793-1798”, p.238, Cosimo, Inc.

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• Timidity makes a person modest. It makes him or her say, "I'm not worthy of being written up in the record of deeds in heaven or on earth." Timidity keeps people from their good. They are afraid to say, "Yes, I deserve it."

  Maya Angelou

  Compassion, People, Heaven

  Interview with Oprah Winfrey for O, The Oprah Magazine, www.oprah.com. December 2000.

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• Do not be too timid and squeamish about your actions.

  Ralph Waldo Emerson

  Self Esteem, Careers, Will And Determination

  Journals of Ralph Waldo Emerson

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• Presumption will be easily corrected; but timidity is a disease of the mind more obstinate and fatal.

  Samuel Johnson

  Mind, Disease, Obstinate

  Samuel Johnson (1840). “The Life and Writings of Samuel Johnson...”, p.154

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• History does not long entrust the care of freedom to the weak or the timid.

  Dwight D. Eisenhower

  Veterans Day, Freedom, Military

  1953 Inaugural address, 20 Jan.

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• People like leaders who look like they are dominant, optimistic, friendly to their friends, and quick on the trigger when it comes to enemies. They like boldness and despise the appearance of timidity and protracted doubt.

  Daniel Kahneman

  Optimistic, People, Leader

  "Daniel Kahneman’s Gripe with Behavioral Economics". Interview with Jesse Singal, www.thedailybeast.com. April 26, 2013.

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• Try to live your life in a way that you will not regret years of useless virtue and inertia and timidity.

  Maya Angelou

  Regret, Years, Live Your Life

  Twitter post from Jun 12, 2016

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• It's better to make a mistake with the full force of your being than to timidly avoid mistakes with a trembling spirit. Responsibility means recognizing both pleasure and price, action and consequence, then making a choice.

  Dan Millman

  Motivational, Mistake, Mean

  Dan Millman (2009). “Way of the Peaceful Warrior: A Book That Changes Lives: Easyread Super Large 24pt Edition”, p.54, ReadHowYouWant.com

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• Given the same amount of intelligence, timidity will do a thousand times more damage than audacity

  Carl von Clausewitz

  Military, Audacity, Damage

  Carl von Clausewitz (2008). “On War”, p.191, Princeton University Press

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• There are men whose language is strong and defying enough, yet their eyes and their actions ask leave of other men to live.

  Ralph Waldo Emerson

  Strong, Eye, Men

  Ralph Waldo Emerson (1960). “The Journals”

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• Like timidity, bravery is also contagious.

  Munshi Premchand

  Badass, Bravery, Contagious

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• Self-censorship is insulting to the self. Timidity is a hopeless way forward.

  Ai Weiwei

  Self, Way Forward, Insulting

  "Truth to Power". Interview with Simon Kirby, Index on Censorship, www.indexoncensorship.org. May 2008.

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• An ounce of courage will go farther with women than a pound of timidity.

  Honore de Balzac

  Pounds

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• All life is an experiment. The more experiments you make the better.

  Ralph Waldo Emerson

  Life, Motivational, Positive

  Ralph Waldo Emerson (2004). “A Dream Too Wild: Emerson Meditations for Every Day of the Year”, Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations

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• A great deal of talent is lost to the world for the want of a little courage. Every day sends to their graves a number of obscure men who have only remained obscure because their timidity has prevented them from making a first effort; and who, if they could only have been induced to begin, would in all probability have gone great lengths in the career of fame.

  Sydney Smith

  Confidence, Courage, Nature

  "Elementary Sketches of Moral Philosophy".

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• Love is frightened at the intervals of insensibility and callousness that encroach by little and little on the domain of grief, and it makes efforts to recall the keenness of the first anguish.

  George Eliot

  Grief, Love Is, Effort

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• Wherever you find real love, you will also find humility. Remember something: humility is not a weak and timid quality. Too often we feel that humility is a sign of weakness. This is not so. It is the sign of strength and security.

  Kathryn Kuhlman

  Love, Inspirational, Strength

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• A timid person is frightened before a danger, a coward during the time, and a courageous person afterward.

  Jean Paul

  Life, Courage, Time

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• Woman and men of retiring timidity are cowardly only in dangers which affect themselves, but the first to rescue when others are in danger.

  Jean Paul

  Men, Literature, Firsts

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• It is often laziness and timidity that keep us within our duty while virtue gets all the credit.

  Francois de La Rochefoucauld

  Credit, Laziness, Virtue

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