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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• Like timidity, bravery is also contagious.

  Munshi Premchand

  Badass, Bravery, Contagious

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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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• 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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• Timidity is a fault for which it is dangerous to reprove persons whom we wish to correct of it.

  Francois de La Rochefoucauld

  Wish, Faults, Dangerous

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• One with more of soul in his face than words on his tongue.

  William Wordsworth

  Soul, Tongue, Faces

  William Wordsworth, “The Farmer Of Tilsbury Vale”

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• Women, somehow, have the same fear of witty men as of fireworks.

  Douglas William Jerrold

  Witty, Men, Fireworks

  Douglas William Jerrold, Blanchard Jerrold (1859). “Specimens of Douglas Jerrold's wit: together with selections, chiefly from his contributions to journals, intended to illustrate his opinions”, p.53

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• For the first half of this century, High Court judges have been cautious to the point of timidity in expressing any criticism of governmental action; the independence of the judiciary has been of a decidedly subordinate character.

  Ferdinand Mount

  Character, Court Judges, Judging

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• 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.

  Gwen John

  Talking, People, Shadow

  Adrian Heathfield, Gwen John, Ceridwen Lloyd-Morgan, Hugo Glendinning (2004). “Live: art and performance”

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• I have arrived at the conviction that the neglect by economists to discuss seriously what is really the crucial problem of our time is due to a certain timidity about soiling their hands by going from purely scientific questions into value questions.

  Friedrich August von Hayek

  Hands, Problem, Economy

  "A Conversation with Friedrich A. Von Hayek: Science and Socialism". Talk at American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research, Washington, D.C., 1979.

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• I didn't want to be on the losing side. I was fed up with Jewish weakness, timidity and fear. I didn't want any more Jewish sentimentality and Jewish suffering. I was sickened by our sad songs.

  Lionel Blue

  Song, Suffering, Sides

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