125+ Best Introvert Quotes That Are Really Relatable

Rajnandini Roychoudhury
Dec 12, 2023 By Rajnandini Roychoudhury
Originally Published on Jan 19, 2021
Edited by Monisha Kochhar
Introvert Man sitting inside box and working with phone
Age: 0-99
Read time: 19.3 Min

Looking for something to enjoy while sitting by yourself with a nice cup of something, all cosy and alone? You'll love these introvert quotes! Sometimes there's just no energy left to “people” and you need to be by yourself. That's okay - one of these is bound to speak to you on a spiritual level. Of course if that doesn't sound like you at all then you might be better off with some extrovert quotes… and if you feel like you're a little more in the middle, maybe check out some ambivert quotes instead.

Best Quotes About Introverts

Introvert and extrovert concept. Wooden figurines on a desk.

1. “Let’s clear one thing up: Introverts do not hate small talk because we dislike people. We hate small talk because we hate the barrier it creates between people.” - Laurie Helgoe, 'Introvert Power: Why Your Inner Life Is Your Hidden Strength', 2008.

2. “I am rarely bored alone; I am often bored in groups and crowds.” - Laurie Helgoe, 'Introvert Power: Why Your Inner Life Is Your Hidden Strength', 2008.

3. “Introverts enjoy people-watching. Extroverts enjoy people watching.” - Jonny Sun, 'Everyone's a Aliebn When Ur a Aliebn Too', 2017.

4. “You do not need to leave your room. Remain sitting at your table and listen.” - Franz Kafka, 'The Zurau Aphorisms', 1931.

5. “Please kindly go away, I’m introverting.” - Beth Buelow, 'The Introvert Entrepreneur: Amplify Your Strengths and Create Success on Your Own Terms', 2015.

6. “Some kinds of night animals and people that don’t fit in with others and that nobody really believes in. They keep out of the way all the year. And then when everything’s quiet and white and the nights are long and most people are asleep - then they appear.” - Tove Jansson, 'Moominland Midwinter - The Moomins', 1957.

7. “Quiet people have the loudest minds.” - Stephen Hawking.

8. “I think a lot, but I don’t say much.” - Anne Frank, 'The Diary Of a Young Girl', 1952.

9. “Silence is only frightening to people who are compulsively verbalizing.” - William S. Burroughs, 'The Job: Interviews With William S. Burroughs'.

10. “Everyone shines, given the right lighting.” - Susan Cain, 'Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking', 2012.

11. “People empty me. I have to get away to refill.” - C. Bukowski, 'The Captain is Out to Lunch and the Sailors Have Taken Over the Ship', 1998.

12. “In order to be open to creativity, one must have the capacity for constructive use of solitude. One must overcome the fear of being alone.” - Rollo May, 'Man's Search for Himself', 1953.

13. “Don’t underestimate me because I’m quiet. I know more than I say, think more than I speak and observe more than you know.” - Michaela Chung.

14. “I have to be alone very often. I’d be quite happy if I spent from Saturday night until Monday morning alone in my apartment. That’s how I refuel.” - Audrey Hepburn, 'Many-Sided Charmer, LIFE Magazine', 1953.

15. “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.” - Susan Cain, 'Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking', 2012.

16. “There is a tremendous difference between alone and lonely. You could be lonely in a group of people. I like being alone. I like eating by myself. I go home at night and just watch a movie or hang out with my dog.” - Drew Barrymore.

17. “I like saying the most with the least.” - Bob Newhart.

18. “A good rule of thumb is that any environment that consistently leaves you feeling bad about who you are is the wrong environment.” - Laurie Helgoe, 'Introvert Power: Why Your Inner Life Is Your Hidden Strength', 2008.

19. “Introverts crave meaning so party chitchat feels like sandpaper to our psyche.” - Diane Cameron.

20. “The highest form of love is to be the protector of another person’s solitude.” - Rainer Maria Rilke, 'Letters To A Young Poet', 1929.

21. “When you’re an introvert like me and you’ve been lonely for a while, and then you find someone who understands you, you become really attached to them. It’s a real release.” - Lana Del Rey, ''Interview By Ernest Becker, Complex'.

22. “Luna was glad Amy wasn’t one to pry. She knew that if she wanted to talk about it, she would. More people needed to be like her.” - Kayla Krantz, 'Dead by Morning - Rituals of the Night', 2015.

23. “Originality thrives in seclusion free of outside influences beating upon us to cripple the creative mind. Be alone—that is the secret of invention: be alone, that is when ideas are born.” - Nikola Tesla.

24. “If you like to do things in a slow and steady way, don’t let others make you feel as if you have to race. If you enjoy depth, don’t force yourself to seek breadth.” - Susan Cain, 'Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking', 2012.

25. “Introvert conversations are like jazz. Each player gets to solo for a nice stretch before the other player comes in and does his solo.” - Laurie Helgoe, 'Introvert Power: Why Your Inner Life Is Your Hidden Strength', 2008.

26. “Introverts are word economists in a society suffering from verbal diarrhea.” - Michaela Chung.

27. “I am worn out with civility. I have been talking incessantly all night with nothing to say.” -Jane Austen, 'Mansfield Park', 1814.

28. “I want to be alone… with someone else who wants to be alone.” – Dimitri Zaik.

29. “I’m very picky with whom I give my energy to. I prefer to reserve my time, intensity and spirit exclusively to those who reflect sincerity.” - Dau Voire.

30. “Introverts live in two worlds: We visit the world of people, but solitude and the inner world will always be our home.” - Jenn Granneman, 'The Secret Lives of Introverts: Inside Our Hidden World', 2017.

Funny Introvert Quotes

 

Sometimes being introverted means you have to learn to laugh at yourself. Have a giggle with a cuppa… why not?

31. “Introverts ... may have strong social skills and enjoy parties and business meetings, but after a while wish they were home in their pyjamas.” - Susan Cain, 'Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking', 2012.

32. “You might be an introvert if you were ready to go home before you left the house.” – Criss Jami.

33. “I only go out to get me a fresh appetite for being alone.” - Lord Byron, 'Byron's Letters and Journals, Volume I: 'In my hot youth', 1798-1810', 1832.

34. “I don’t hate people. I just feel better when they are not around.” – Charles Bukowski, 'Barfly', 1987.

35. “While others chat, introverts listen, observe, analyze, and collect impressions.” – Laurie Helgoe, 'Introvert Power: Why Your Inner Life Is Your Hidden Strength', 2008.

36. “I need space from a world that is filled with millions of mouths that talk too much but never have anything to say.” – Kaitlin Foster.

37. “I talked to a calzone for fifteen minutes last night before I realized it was just an introverted pizza. I wish all my acquaintances were so tasty.” – Jarod Kintz, 'This Book Has No Title', 2012.

38. “I prefer tongue-tied knowledge to ignorant loquacity.” – Marcus Tullius Cicero.

39. “Telling an introvert to go to a party is like telling a saint to go to Hell.” - Criss Jami, 'Killosophy', 2015.

40. “Our culture made a virtue of living only as extroverts. We discouraged the inner journey, the quest for a center. So we lost our center and have to find it again.” - Anais Nin.

41. “There’s zero correlation between being the best talker and having the best ideas.” – Susan Cain, 'The Power of Introverts', TED Talk, 2012.

42. “Kindly remove yourself from my personal space. Thanks.” - Gemma Correll.

43. “There are times I wish I was a master magician so I could disappear into the folds of time.” – Jaeda DeWalt.

Quotes That Introverts Can Relate To

These will definitely speak to you if you're introverted. Fortunately, they'll do so quietly.

44. “When I was young, all I wanted and expected from life was to sit quietly in some corner doing my work without the public paying attention to me.” - Albert Einstein.

45. “What a lovely surprise to finally discover how unlonely being alone can be.” - Ellen Burstyn.

46. “For it is in your power to retire into yourself whenever you choose.” – Marcus Aurelius, 'Meditations'.

47. “I was happiest to be alone; for it was then I was most aware of what I possessed.” – Roman Payne, 'Rooftop Soliloquy', 2009.

48. “The monotony and solitude of a quiet life stimulate the creative mind.” – Albert Einstein.

49. “One travels more usefully when they travel alone because they reflect more.” – Thomas Jefferson, 'Letter to John Banister, Jr',1787.

50. “The day I began to live is the day I discovered being an introvert was awesome.” - Maxime Lagacé.

51. “It’s far better to be unhappy alone than unhappy with someone.”– Marilyn Monroe.

52. “I would rather sit on a pumpkin and have it all to myself than be crowded on a velvet cushion.” – Henry David Thoreau.

53. “Blessed are those who do not fear solitude, who are not afraid of their own company, who are not always desperately looking for something to do, something to amuse them with, and something to judge.” – Paulo Coelho, 'Manuscript Found in Accra', 2012.

54. “Your solitude will be a support and a home for you, even in the midst of very unfamiliar circumstances, and from it, you will find all your paths.” – Rainer Maria Rilke, 'Letters To A Young Poet', 1929.

55. “Be a loner. That gives you time to wonder, to search for the truth.” – Albert Einstein.

56. “One can be instructed in society, one is inspired only in solitude.” - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe.

57. “My imagination functions much better when I don’t have to speak to people.” – Patricia Highsmith.

58. “If you meet a loner, no matter what they tell you, it’s not because they enjoy solitude. It’s because they have tried to blend into the world before, and people continue to disappoint them.” – Jodi Picoult, 'My Sister's Keeper', 2009.

Introvert Quotes By Famous Personalities

More famous people are introverts than a lot of people realise! See if your introverted idol made the list.

59. “Writing is something you do alone. Its a profession for introverts who want to tell you a story but don't want to make eye contact while doing it.” - John Green, 'Thoughts from Places: The Tour',  2012.

60. “Introverts prefer to work independently, and solitude can be a catalyst to innovation.” - Susan Cain, 'Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking', 2012.

61. “Are introverts arrogant? Hardly. I suppose this common misconception has to do with our being more intelligent, more reflective, more independent, more level-headed, more refined, and more sensitive than extroverts.” - Jonathan Rauch, 'Caring for Your Introvert', 2003.

62. “Introverts treasure the close relationships they have stretched so much to make.” - Adam S. McHugh, 'Introverts in the Church: Finding Our Place in an Extroverted Culture', 2009.

63. “Matthew, much to his own surprise, was enjoying himself. Like most quiet folks he liked talkative people when they were willing to do the talking themselves and did not expect him to keep up his end of it.” - L. M. Montgomery, 'Anne of Green Gables', 1908.

64. “Evangelicalism has taken the Extrovert Ideal to its logical extreme...If you don't love Jesus out loud, then it must not be real love.” - Susan Cain, 'Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking', 2012.

65. “Without great solitude no serious work is possible.” – Pablo Picasso.

66. “Wise men, when in doubt whether to speak or to keep quiet, give themselves the benefit of the doubt, and remain silent.” - Napoleon Hill, 'Mindset StackingTM Inspirational Journal VolumeSS01', 2017.

67. “'Come out of your shell’ – that noxious expression which fails to appreciate that some animals naturally carry shelter everywhere they go and some humans are just the same.” – Susan Cain, 'Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking', 2012.

68. “Knowing yourself is the beginning of all wisdom.” – Aristotle.

69. “As a child, I suppose I was not quite normal. my happiest times were when i was left alone in the house on a Saturday.” - Charles Bukowski, 'Sifting Through The Madness For The Word, The Line, The Way: New Poems', 2009.

70. “I think I’m a weird combination of deeply introverted and very daring.” – Helen Hunt.

71. “People say things to me like, ‘It’s really cool that you don’t go out and get drunk all the time and go to clubs.’ I appreciate that, but I’m kind of an introverted kind of person just by nature.” – Emma Watson.

72. “Don't think of introversion as something that needs to be cured...Spend your free the way you like, not the way you think you're supposed to.” - Susan Cain, 'Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking', 2012.

73. “I love to be alone. I never found the companion that was so companionable as solitude.” - Henry David Thoreau,'Walden. Ou la vie dans les bois', 1854.

74. “I wish, as well as everybody else, to be perfectly happy; but like everybody else, it must be in my own way.” - Jane Austen, 'Sense And Sensibility', 1811.

75. “From quiet homes and first beginning, out to the undiscovered ends, there's nothing worth the wear of winning, but laughter and the love of friends.” - Hilaire Belloc, 'Dedicatory Ode', 1910.

76. “I restore myself when I’m alone.” - Marilyn Monroe.

77. “Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak out and remove all doubt.” - Abraham Lincoln.

78. “To thine own self be true.” - William Shakespeare, 'Hamlet', 1609.

79. “The best cure for the body is a quiet mind.” - Napoleon Bonaparte.

80. “Be nice to nerds. Chances are you’ll end up working for one.” - Charles J. Sykes.

81. “I kinda live where I find myself.” - Bob Dylan, 'Dylan on Dylan: The Essential Interviews', 2007.

82. “The limited circle is pure.” - Franz Kafka, 1979.

83. “There is no such thing as a pure introvert or extrovert. Such a person would be in the lunatic asylum.” - Carl Jung.

84. “I would admit I’m an introvert. I don’t know why introverts have to apologize.” – Bill Gross.

85. “Nowhere can man find a quieter or more untroubled retreat than in his own soul.” – Marcus Aurelius, 'Meditations'.

86. “For the introvert, conversation can be a very limited forum for self expression.” - Laurie Helgoe, 'Introvert Power: Why Your Inner Life Is Your Hidden Strength', 2013.

87. “Companionship is a foreign concept to some people. They fear it as much as the majority of people fear loneliness.” - Criss Jami, 'Killosophy', 2015.

88. “You may think I’m small, but I have a universe inside my mind.” – Yoko Ono.

89. “The only problem with seeing people you know is that they know you.” - Brent Runyon, 'The Burn Journals', 2005.

90. “Most inventors and engineers I've met are like me. They're shy and they live in their heads. The very best of them are artists. And artists work best alone.” - Steve Wozniak, 'iWoz: Computer Geek to Cult Icon', 2007.

91. “I think the best thing I have is the introvert's ability to listen when you're working on something as complicated as this and you have to really be aware of everyone's specialized skills.” - Jennifer Yuh Nelson, 'The Women of "Kung Fu Panda 3": Girlpower in the World of Animation', 2016.

92. “In an extroverted society, the difference between an introvert and an extrovert is that an introvert is often unconsciously deemed guilty until proven innocent.” - Criss Jami, 'Venus in Arms', 2012.

93. “Solitude matters. And for some people it's the air they breathe.” - Susan Cain, 'Introverts Run The World -- Quietly', 2012.

94. “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.” - Susan Cain, 'Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking', 2012.

95. “Alone had always felt like an actual place to me, as if it weren't a state of being, but rather a room where I could retreat to be who I really was.” - Cheryl Strayed, 'Wild: A Journey from Lost to Found', 2012.

96. “We are all prone to the malady of the introvert who with the manifold spectacle of the world spread out before him, turns away and gazes only upon the emptiness within.” - Bertrand Russell, 'The Conquest of Happiness', 2013.

97. “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.” - Susan Cain, 'Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking', 2012.

98. . “Simply wait, be quiet, still The world will freely offer itself to you.” - Franz Kafka, 'The Zurau Aphorisms', 1931.

99. “And I like large parties. They’re so intimate. At small parties there isn’t any privacy.” - F. Scott Fitzgerald, 'The Great Gatsby', 1925.

100. “Introverts often work more slowly and deliberately. They like to focus on one task at a time and can have mighty powers of concentration.” - Susan Cain, 'Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking', 2012.

101. “There's a difference between preferring books to parties and preferring sixteen cats to seeing the light of day.” - Lauren Morrill, 'Meant to Be', 2012.

102. “When an introvert is quiet, don't assume he is depressed, snobbish or socially deficient.” - Laurie Helgoe, 'Interview with Sophia Dembling', 2009.

103. “Living is like tearing through a museum. Not until later do you really start absorbing what you saw, thinking about it, looking it up in a book, and remembering - because you can't take it in all at once.” - Audrey Hepburn, David Hofstede, 'Audrey Hepburn : A Bio-bibliography', 1994.

104. “I owe everything that I have done to the fact that I am very much at ease being alone.” – Marilynne Robinson.

105. “For introverts, to be alone with our thoughts is as restorative as sleeping, as nourishing as eating.” - Jonathan Rauch, 'Caring for Your Introvert', 2003.

106. “The more powerful and original a mind, the more it will incline towards the religion of solitude.” - Aldous Huxley, 'The Collected Works of Aldous Huxley', 1957.

Movie Quotes About Introverts

107. “He begins every night really excited. He always says he feels free, and tonight is his destiny. But after awhile, he runs out of things to keep himself numb. ... the words leave him, and we can see how sad he really is.” - Charlie, 'The Perks of Being a Wallflower', 2012.

108. “You see things. You keep quiet about them. And you understand. You're a wallflower.” - Patrick, 'The Perks of Being a Wallflower', 2012.

109. "Finbar McBride: You said you weren't going to talk to me if I sat here, Joe.
Joe Oramas: I haven't said anything in like twenty minutes.
[Fin checks his pocket watch]
Finbar McBride: Nine.
Joe Oramas: You timed me?
Finbar McBride: Mm-hmm."
- 'The Station Agent', 2003.

110. “Right now we are alive and in this moment I swear we are infinite.” - Charlie, 'The Perks of Being a Wallflower', 2012.

111. “Okay, you see this? This is your comfort zone. It's this big, Quentin. All the things that you want in the world are way out there.” - Margo, 'Paper Towns', 2015.

112. "Sam: Why do I and everyone I love pick people who treat us like we're nothing?
Charlie: We accept the love we think we deserve."
- 'The Perks of Being a Wallflower', 2012.

113. “So, my little Amélie, you don't have bones of glass. You can take life's knocks. If you let this chance pass, eventually, your heart will become as dry and brittle as my skeleton. So, go get him, for Pete's sake!” - Dufayel, 'Amélie', 2001.

114. “Things change. And friends leave. And life doesn't stop for anybody.” - Charlie, 'The Perks of Being a Wallflower', 2012.

125. "Joe Oramas: Alright, you keep talking! I'm gonna go cook without the garlic press!
Olivia Harris: I'm not used to having people in my house... especially loud people."
- 'The Station Agent', 2003.

126. “I am very interested and fascinated how everyone loves each other, but no one really likes each other.” - Charlie, 'The Perks of Being a Wallflower', 2012.

Song Lyrics About Introverts

"But I'm a creep
I'm a weirdo
What the hell am I doin' here?
I don't belong here."
- 'Radiohead', 1993.

"I'm looking for a place
I'm searching for a face
Is anybody here I know
'Cause nothing's going right
And everything's a mess
And no one likes to be alone."
- 'I'm With You', Avril Lavigne, 2002.

"I walk a lonely road
The only one that I have ever known
Don't know where it goes
But it's home to me and I walk alone."
- 'Greenday', 2004.

"Excuse me if I seem a little unimpressed with this
An anti-social pessimist but usually I don't mess with this
And I know you mean only the best and
Your intentions aren't to bother me
But honestly I'd rather be
Somewhere with my people…"
- 'Here', Alessia Cara, 2015.

"When you were here before
Couldn't look you in the eye
You're just like an angel
Your skin makes me cry
You float like a feather
In a beautiful world."
- 'Radiohead', 1993.

"There's a world where I can go and tell my secrets to
In my room, in my room
In this world I lock out all my worries and my fears
In my room, in my room."
- 'The Beach Boys', 1963.

"There's another world inside of me that you may never see
There's secrets in this life that I can't hide
Somewhere in this darkness there's a light that I can't find
Maybe it's too far away, maybe I'm just blind
Maybe I'm just blind."
- '3 Doors Down', 2002.

"I would rather be at home all by myself not in this room
With people who don't even care about my well-being"
- 'Here', Alessia Cara, 2015.

"Isn't anyone trying to find me?
Won't somebody come take me home?
It's a damn cold night
Trying to figure out this life
Won't you take me by the hand?
Take me somewhere new."
- 'I'm With You', Avril Lavigne, 2002.

"My shadow's the only one that walks beside me
My shallow heart's the only thing that's beating
Sometimes I wish someone out there will find me
'Til then I walk alone."
- 'Greenday', 2004.

Embrace your introverted nature by learning about World Introvert Day, or just take some quiet time for yourself with our range of free, printable coloring pages and do a little activity meditation to relax.

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Written by Rajnandini Roychoudhury

Bachelor of Arts specializing in English, Master of Arts specializing in English

Rajnandini Roychoudhury picture

Rajnandini RoychoudhuryBachelor of Arts specializing in English, Master of Arts specializing in English

With a Master of Arts in English, Rajnandini has pursued her passion for the arts and has become an experienced content writer. She has worked with companies such as Writer's Zone and has had her writing skills recognized by publications such as The Telegraph. Rajnandini is also trilingual and enjoys various hobbies such as music, movies, travel, philanthropy, writing her blog, and reading classic British literature. 

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