Top 40 Laurie A. Helgoe Quotes (2024 Update)

1. “Quiet is might. Solitude is strength. Introversion is power.”

— Laurie A. Helgoe

2. “I am rarely bored alone; I am often bored in groups and crowds.”

— Laurie A. Helgoe

3. “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 A. Helgoe

4. “Reading is like travel, allowing you to exit your own life for a bit, and to come back with a renewed, even inspired, perspective.”

— Laurie A. Helgoe

5. “A good rule of thumb is that any environment that consistently leaves you feeling bad about who you are is the wrong environment.”

— Laurie A. Helgoe

6. “Whatever kind of introvert you are, some people will find you ‘too much’ in some ways and ‘not enough’ in others.”

— Laurie A. Helgoe

7. “Introverts keep their best stuff inside – that is, until it is ready. And this drives extroverts crazy! The explanation for the introvert’s behavior – and there must be an explanation for this behavior, say the extroverts – is that he or she is antisocial, out of touch, or simply a snob.”

— Laurie A. Helgoe

8. “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 A. Helgoe

9. “When an introvert is quiet, don’t assume he is depressed, snobbish or socially deficient.”

— Laurie A. Helgoe

10. “For the introvert, conversation can be a very limited forum for self expression. When a song moves you, a writer gets you or a theory enlightens you, you and its creator are connecting in a realm beyond sight or speech.”

— Laurie A. Helgoe

11. “Introverts are collectors of thoughts, and solitude is where the collection is curated and rearranged to make sense of the present and future.”

— Laurie A. Helgoe

12. “When an introvert cares about someone, she also wants contact, not so much to keep up with the events of the other person’s life, but to keep up with what’s inside: the evolution of ideas, values, thoughts, and feelings.”

— Laurie A. Helgoe

13. “Introverts are more effective leaders of proactive employees. When you have a creative, energetic work force, an introvert is going to draw out that energy better.”

— Laurie A. Helgoe

14. “If you ask an introvert a question, wait until she thinks about it. Introverts think before speaking, not through speaking. If you want to get to the good stuff, you need to slow down.”

— Laurie A. Helgoe

15. “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 A. Helgoe

16. “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 A. Helgoe

17. “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 A. Helgoe

18. “Introvert, her brain responds with a high level of activity, it is as if several lights start flashing on a control panel.”

— Laurie A. Helgoe

19. “Though introverts are drained by interaction, we can take immense pleasure in watching the scene around us.”

— Laurie A. Helgoe

20. “Introverts like being introverts. We are drawn to ideas, we are passionate observers, and for us, solitude is rich and generative.”

— Laurie A. Helgoe

21. “Your nature is not the problem. The problem is that you have become alienated from your nature – from your power source.”

— Laurie A. Helgoe

22. “What we share as introverts is the love of ideas and the desire to explore them with minimal interruption. We want and need input, but we’d rather get it through reading, research, and rich conversation than through unfiltered talk.”

— Laurie A. Helgoe

23. “This is why it is sometimes hard for introverts to find words: we really hate to compromise, and words are always a compromise.”

— Laurie A. Helgoe

24. “Introverts paradoxically pull away from culture and create culture.”

— Laurie A. Helgoe

25. “One of the best places for a shy person to meet people is in a coffee shop. If you are a reader, bring a book and read it there – that gives a guy something to ask you about. Same goes for sketching, writing, or any hobby you can take with you.”

— Laurie A. Helgoe

26. “A shy kid might look longingly at other kids playing in the schoolyard, afraid and unsure about how to approach them, but an introvert is perfectly content on her own.”

— Laurie A. Helgoe

27. “Introverts generally prefer a rich inner life to an expansive social life; we would rather talk intimately with a close friend than share stories with a group; and we prefer to develop our ideas internally rather than interactively.”

— Laurie A. Helgoe

28. “Re-examine all you have been told. Dismiss what insults your soul.” – Walt Whitman.”

— Laurie A. Helgoe

29. “In his seminal article, “The Capacity to Be Alone,” psychoanalyst and child development expert D. W. Winnicott asserted that the ability to be alone “is one of the most important signs of maturity in emotional development.”

— Laurie A. Helgoe

30. “If you are drawn to the refined, take up calligraphy or grow a bonsai.”

— Laurie A. Helgoe

31. “It is hard for extroverts to understand how truly oppressive a party can be for an introvert.”

— Laurie A. Helgoe

32. “James W. Pennebaker and his associates at the University of Texas have conducted extensive research on the benefits of journaling. His findings: if you want relief, write about your most upsetting experiences, write through the pain, and connect painful events with your life story.”

— Laurie A. Helgoe

33. “In the sitcom Scruns, medicals interns used the supply closet as a hideout when they needed to have a panic attack or a good cry. If you seek private space, you are much more likely to find it.”

— Laurie A. Helgoe

34. “You have to systematically create confusion, it sets creativity free. Everything that is contradictory creates life.” – Salvador Dali.”

— Laurie A. Helgoe

35. “Children who cannot tolerate boredom and solitude become stimulus addicts, choosing the quick filler over the richness of possibility.”

— Laurie A. Helgoe

36. “Some introverts accept and even embrace alienation from society, and to the extent possible, drop out of the mainstream. These are the Shadow Dwellers, and whether they just keep a low profile or become openly hosile to the mainstream, you probably won’t see them at a ″meet and greet″ function.”

— Laurie A. Helgoe

37. “So next time someone enters your contemplative space and tells you to get happier, say you’re busy attending to “the poignant enormity of life experience.” Bet that will get you some alone time.”

— Laurie A. Helgoe

38. “If you are not afraid of the voices inside you, you will not fear the critics outside you.” – Natalie Goldberg.”

— Laurie A. Helgoe

39. “So, being an introvert does not mean you’re antisocial, asocial, or socially inept. It does mean that you are oriented to ideas – whether those ideas involve you with people or not. It means that you prefer spacious interactions with fewer people. And it means that, when you converse, you are more interested in sharing ideas than in talking about people and what they’re doing. In a conversation with someone sharing gossip, the introvert’s eyes glaze over and his.”

— Laurie A. Helgoe

40. “Here’s a well-kept secret: introversion is not defined by lack. Introversion, when embraced, is a wellspring of riches.”

— Laurie A. Helgoe

41. “Salvador Dali offers these helpful reminders: “Those who do not want to imitate anything, produce nothing,” and “Have no fear of perfection, you’ll never reach it.”

— Laurie A. Helgoe