Shy and proud men … are more liable than any others to fall into the hands of parasites and creatures of low character. For in the intimacies which are formed by shy men, they do not choose, but are chosen.

Henry Taylor (1800-1886) English dramatist, poet, bureaucrat, man of letters

The Statesman: An Ironical Treatise on the Art of Succeeding, ch. 4 (1836)