116 Introvert Quotes to Capture the Essence of Your Personality

Introverts often take the road less traveled. They choose to be different, and often aspire to do great things and leave a legacy.

If you need a few words of Introvert wisdom to remind you how great you are, this article is for you. Here are the best Introvert quotes that’ll make you feel seen and appreciated.

If all you want to know is why introverts prefer to be alone rather than in large groups, you’ve come to the right place. Today, we’ll explain what introverts are and how they feel through quotes so you can better understand them.

Introvert Quotes from Famous Persons

1. “In a gentle way, you can shake the world.” – Mahatma Gandhi

2. “The most important thing to know about being an introvert is that there’s nothing wrong with you. You’re not broken because you’re quiet. It’s okay to stay home on a Friday night instead of going to a party. Being an introvert is a perfectly normal ‘thing’ to be.” – Jenn Granneman

3. “So many people are shut up tight inside themselves like boxes, yet they would open up, unfolding quite wonderfully, if only you were interested in them.” – Sylvia Plath

4. “Introverts are dependent on their own inside noise, extroverts are dependent on outside noise. The outputs are dependent on the quality of those noises.” – Amit K Ghosh

5. “While extroverts are verbal processors, who speak as they think, introverts need to think before we speak. This leads to a slower, more thoughtful communication style that involves fewer words, and longer pauses.” – Michaela Chung

6. “As an introvert, you can be your own best friend or your worst enemy. The good news is we generally like our own company, a quality that extroverts often envy. We find comfort in solitude and know how to soothe ourselves.” – Laurie Helgoe

7. “You’ve gotta keep control of your time, and you can’t unless you say no. You can’t let people set your agenda in life.” – Warren Buffett

8. “Introverts live in two worlds: We visit the world of people, but solitude and the inner world will always be our home.” – Jenn Granneman

9. “Don’t come to my house unannounced. I will stare at you from my window.” – TheRockle.com

10. “E-mail is far more convenient than the telephone. As far as I’m concerned, I would throw my phone away if I could get away with it.” – Tom Hanks

11. “Confident introverts don’t avoid social situations. They just make wise choices.” – Unknown

12. “I really like to stay in my nest and not move. I travel in my mind, and that’s a rigorous state of journeying for me. My body isn’t that interested in moving from place to place.” – Bell Hooks

13. “You only know part of me. I am a universe full of secrets.” – Lupytha Hermin

14. “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

15. “The more powerful and original a mind, the more it will incline towards the religion of solitude.” – Aldous Huxley

16. “An introvert may feel asocial when pressured to go to a party that doesn’t interest her. But for her, the event does not promise meaningful interaction. In fact, she knows that the party will leave her feeling more alone and alienated.” – Laurie Helgoe

17. “Don’t feel stupid if you don’t like what everyone else pretends to love.” – Emma Watson

18. “Accept everything about yourself – I mean everything. You are you and that is the beginning and the end – no apologies, no regrets.” – Clark Moustakas

19. “Nobody enjoys the company of others as intensely as someone who usually avoids the company of others.” – Mokokoma Mokhonoana

20. “Stay true to your own nature. 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

21. “Quiet people have the loudest minds.” – Stephen Hawking

22. “Do what you feel in your heart to be right for you’ll be criticized anyway. You’ll be damned if you do, and damned if you don’t.” – Eleanor Roosevelt

23. “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

24. “Wise men, when in doubt whether to speak or to keep quiet, give themselves the benefit of the doubt, and remain silent.” – Napoleon Hill

25. “My idea of a fun night was diving into a massive pile of To Be Read books stacked near my dresser.” – Jeff Sampson

26. “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

27. “I love to be alone. I never found the companion that was so companionable as solitude.” – Henry David Thoreau

28. “Companionship is a foreign concept to some people. They fear it as much as the majority of people fear loneliness.” – Criss Jami

29. “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

30. “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

31. “For introverts, to be alone with our thoughts is as restorative as sleeping, as nourishing as eating.” – Jonathan Rauch

32. “I was never less alone than when by myself.” – Edward Gibbon

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

34. “It’s never a good idea to organize society in a way that depletes the energy of half the population. We discovered this with women decades ago, and now it’s time to realize it with introverts.” – Susan Cain

35. “Extroverts sparkle, introverts glow. Extroverts are fireworks, introverts are a fire in the hearth.” – Sophia Dembling

36. “You shouldn’t worry so much about what others think of you if you realized how seldom they do.” – Eleanor Roosevelt

37. “Isn’t it refreshing to know that what comes perfectly natural for you is your greatest strength? Your power is in your nature. You may not think it’s a big deal that you can spend hours immersed in something that interests you — alone — but the extrovert next door has no idea how you do it.” – Laurie Helgoe

38. “So, if you are too tired to speak, sit next to me, because I, too, am fluent in silence.” – R. Arnold

39. “Everybody has a secret world inside of them. I mean everybody. All of the people in the whole world, I mean everybody — no matter how dull and boring they are on the outside. Inside them, they’ve all got unimaginable, magnificent, wonderful, stupid, amazing worlds… Not just one world. Hundreds of them. Thousands, maybe.” – Neil Gaiman

40. “Understand that half the game is keeping quiet, and carefully watching those around you.” – Robert Greene

41. “Our language has wisely sensed the two sides of being alone. It has created the word “loneliness” to express the pain of being alone. And it has created the word “solitude” to express the glory of being alone.” – Paul Tillich

42. “Live your life the way you want, not the way society tells you.” – Maxime Lagacé

43. “The world needs to accept introversion as normal. The world should stop associating introversion with mental illness.” – Mitta Xinindlu

44. “You’re one of those who has to tune the world out and focus on one thing at a time. We have a word for that down here, women like you. Insiwa. Inside one. It means you live inside your head and to step out of it hurts like a caning.” – Rivers Solomon

45. “I don’t hate people. I just feel better when they are not around.” – Charles Bukowski

46. “Quiet people have the loudest minds.” – Stephen Hawking

47. “Here’s a PSA for all you extroverts out there. If an introvert nods and says hello it absolutely doesn’t automatically mean they want to engage in an actual conversation with you.” – TheRockle.com

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

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

50. “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

51. “Writing is something you do alone. It’s a profession for introverts who want to tell you a story but don’t want to make eye contact while doing it.” – John Green

52. The highest form of love is to be the protector of another person’s solitude.” – Rainer Maria Rilke

53. “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

54. “People empty me. I have to get away to refill.” – C. Bukowski

55. “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

56. “After an hour or two of being socially on, we introverts need to turn off and recharge. This isn’t antisocial. It isn’t a sign of depression.” – Jonathan Rauch

57. “I don’t have time for superficial friends, I suppose if you’re really lonely you can call a superficial friend, but otherwise, what’s the point?” – Courtney Cox

58. “[Introverts] listen more than they talk, think before they speak, and often feel as if they express themselves better in writing than in conversation. They tend to dislike conflict. Many have a horror for small talk, but enjoy deep discussions.” – Susan Cain

59. “People always tell introverts to be more talkative and leave their comfort zones, yet no one tells extroverts to shut up to make the zone comfortable.” – TheRockle.com

60. “When I am alone I can become invisible. I can sit on the top of a dune as motionless as an uprise of weeds until the foxes run by unconcerned. I can hear the almost unhearable sound of the roses singing.” – Mary Oliver

61. “You do not need to leave your room. Remain sitting at your table and listen. Do not even listen, simply wait, be quiet, still, and solitary. The world will freely offer itself to you to be unmasked, it has no choice, it will roll in ecstasy at your feet.” – Franz Kafka

More Introvert Quotes

62. “Introvert allergies: social obligations, phone calls after 6 pm, group of more than 3 people, talkative hairdresser and hosts that don’t let you leave early.”

63. “It’s not because I don’t want to look at you. It’s that I don’t want to be seen.” – Jonathan Lethem

64. “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

65. “Sometimes you just need to lay on the couch and read for a couple of years.”

66. “To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

67. “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. I have to exert myself and really say, oh God, I’ve got to see my friends because I’m too content by myself.” – Drew Barrymore

68. “The only thing I bring to social gatherings are excuses to leave early.”

69. “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

70. “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

Funny Introvert Quotes

71. “Silence is beautiful, not awkward. The human tendency to be afraid of something beautiful is awkward.” – Elliot Kay

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

73. “My alone feels so good, I’ll only have you if you’re sweeter than my solitude.” – Warsan Shire

74. “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

75. “People inspire you, or they drain you — pick them wisely.” – Hans F. Hansen

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

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

78. “I’m indecisive because I see eight sides to everything.” – April Kepner

79. “A bore is someone who deprives you of solitude without providing you with the company.” – Oscar Wilde

80. “There’s zero correlation between being the best talker and having the best ideas.” – Susan Cain

81. “Sometimes I just shut down and don’t talk to anyone for days. It’s nothing personal.” – Sonya Teclai

82. “Kindly remove yourself from my personal space. Thanks.” – Gemma Correll

83. “A wise man once said nothing.” – Proverb

84. “I prefer tongue-tied knowledge to ignorant loquacity.” – Cicero

85. “I don’t want to be alone. I want to be left alone.” – Audrey Hepburn

Inspirational Introvert Quotes

86. “The one who follows the crowd will usually go no further than the crowd. Those who walk alone are likely to find themselves in places no one has ever been before.” – Francis Phillip Wernig

87. “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

88. “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

89. “Lighthouses don’t go running all over an island looking for boats to save; they just stand there shining.” – Anne Lamott

90. “Silence is only frightening to people who are compulsively verbalizing.” – William S. Boroughs

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

92. “Don’t think of introversion as something that needs to be cured… Spend your free time the way you like, not the way you think you’re supposed to.” – Susan Cain

93. “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

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

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

96. “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

97. “I wish, as well as everybody else, to be perfectly happy; but like everybody else, it must be in my own way.” – Jane Austen

98. “Be a loner. That gives you time to wonder, to search for the truth. Have holy curiosity. Make your life worth living.” – Albert Einstein

99. “People are always so boring when they band together. You have to be alone to develop all the idiosyncrasies that make a person interesting.” – Andy Warhol

100. “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

101. “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

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

103. “How much better is silence; the coffee cup, the table. How much better to sit by myself like the solitary sea-bird that opens its wings on the stake. Let me sit here forever with bare things, this coffee cup, this knife, this fork, things in themselves, myself being myself.” – Virginia Wolf, The Waves

104. “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

105. “‘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

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

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

108. “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

109. “I think a lot, but I don’t say much.” – Anne Frank

110. “I don’t believe anything really revolutionary has ever been invented by committee… I’m going to give you some advice that might be hard to take. That advice is: Work alone… Not on a committee. Not on a team.” – Steve Wozniak

111. “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

112. “Deep inside, she knew who she was, and that person was smart and kind and often even funny, but somehow her personality always got lost somewhere between her heart and her mouth, and she found herself saying the wrong thing or, more often, nothing at all.” – Julia Quinn

113. “Your visions will become clear only when you can look into your own heart. Who looks outside, dreams; who looks inside, awakes.” – Carl Gustav Jung

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

115. “I’m an introvert… I love being by myself, love being outdoors, love taking a long walk with my dogs and looking at the trees, flowers, and the sky.” – Audrey Hepburn

116. “The secret to life is to put yourself in the right lighting. For some it’s a Broadway spotlight, for others, a lamplit desk.” – Susan Cain

Last Words

You’d probably be surprised if we told you that Michael Jordan and Lady Gaga are introverts, but they are. Albert Einstein and Mahatma Gandhi are also on board.

The fact that these people have made more contributions to the world than almost anyone else is not limited by the fact that they are not extroverts.

Never underestimate an introvert’s power. They may appear to be quiet and shy, but they are most likely too preoccupied with making plans to change the world in unimaginable ways.

Prone to solitude, and overthinking, Introverts sometimes feel isolated from their Extravert peers. If that’s you, know that you’re not alone.

When you feel like everyone is on a different wavelength, come back to this article and read some of our introvert quotes. I hope they make you smile, and remind you of this: there is strength in your quiet nature.

Did you find these useful? If yes, please do well to hit the like and share button!

StudentsandScholarship Team.