I started studying shyness in adults in 1972. Shyness operates at so many different levels. Out of that research came the Stanford shyness clinic in 1977.

The level of shyness has gone up dramatically in the last decade. I think shyness is an index of social pathology rather than a pathology of the individual.

What troubles me is the Internet and the electronic technology revolution. Shyness is fueled in part by so many people spending huge amounts of time alone, isolated on e-mail, in chat rooms, which reduces their face-to-face contact with other people.

Many a man is praised for his reserve and so-called shyness when he is simply too proud to risk making a fool of himself.

There is a shyness about me, and I really need to get out more.

What I never overcame is a kind of shyness.

You know what my greatest personal stumbling block is? My shyness.

Shyness is just egoism out of its depth.

Scientists have found the gene for shyness. They would have found it years ago, but it was hiding behind a couple of other genes.

In talking, shyness and timidity distort the very meaning of my words. I don't pretend to know anybody well. People are like shadows to me and I am like a shadow.

I think we all have blocks between us and the best version of ourselves, whether it's shyness, insecurity, anxiety, whether it's a physical block, and the story of a person overcoming that block to their best self. It's truly inspiring because I think all of us are engaged in that every day.

I was passionate. I found something that I loved. I could be all alone in a big old skating rink and nobody could get near me and I didn't have to talk to anybody because of my shyness. It was great. I was in my fantasy world.

I think I had a shyness about me, I think I discovered acting as a way to break out of that and as a way of belonging, a sense of being special.

I've gotten better at not making people feel uncomfortable with my shyness.

Shyness has a strange element of narcissism, a belief that how we look, how we perform, is truly important to other people.