I have often tried to say to you personally what I am about to write, but was prevented by a kind of almost clownish bashfulness. Now that I am not in your presence I shall speak out more boldly: a letter does not blush.
[Coram me tecum eadem haec agere saepe conantem deterruit pudor quidam paene subrusticus, quae nunc expromam absens audacius; epistula enim non erubescit.]
Marcus Tullius Cicero (106-43 BC) Roman orator, statesman, philosopher
Epistulae ad Familiares [Letters to Friends], Book 5, Letter 12, sec. 1 (5.12.1), to Lucius Lucceius (55 BC) [tr. Shuckburgh (1899), # 108]
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Opening lines of the letter. Cicero then brazenly asks Lucceius, an orator and literary figure, to prominently mention Cicero's consulship in the history he is writing, as had been promised -- and if, as a friend, Lucceius embellished things, well, that was fine with Cicero, too.
(Source (Latin)). Alternate translation:I Determine freely, to open my minde unto you by letters, which doe not blush; seeing in presence I never durst doe it, through a certaine modesty, I cannot say, but rather a rudenesse.
[tr. Webbe (1620)]I have frequently had it in my intentions to talk with you upon the subject of this letter; but a certain aukward modesty, has always restrained me from proposing in person, what I can with less scruple request at this distance: for a letter, you know, spares the confusion of a blush.
[tr. Melmoth (1753), 1.20]A certain sense of shame has often halted me when I have been minded to take up with you face to face the topic which I now will set forth more boldly in your absence; for a letter does not blush.
[tr. McKinlay (1926)]Often, when I have attempted to discuss this topic with you face to face, I have been deterred by a sort of almost boorish bashfulness; but now that I am away from you I shall bring it all out with greater boldness; for a letter does not blush.
[tr. Williams (Loeb) (1928)]Although I have more than once attempted to take up my present topic with you face to face, a sort of shyness, almost awkwardness, has held me back. Away from your presence, I shall set it out with less trepidation. A letter has no blushes.
[tr. Shackleton Bailey (1978), # 22]I have often tried to speak of these matters with you in person, but an almost clownish sense of shyness has scared me off; now, being away from you, I shall declare them more boldly, since a letter does not blush.
[tr. @aleator (2013)]
Quotations about:
shyness
Note not all quotations have been tagged, so Search may find additional quotes on this topic.
A shy man means a lonely man — a man cut off from all companionship, all sociability. He moves about the world, but does not mix with it. Between him and his fellow-men there runs ever an impassable barrier — a strong, invisible wall that, trying in vain to scale, he but bruises himself against. He sees the pleasant faces and hears the pleasant voices on the other side, but he cannot stretch his hand across to grasp another hand. He stands watching the merry groups, and he longs to speak and to claim kindred with them. But they pass him by, chatting gayly to one another, and he cannot stay them. He tries to reach them, but his prison walls move with him and hem him in on every side. In the busy street, in the crowded room, in the grind of work, in the whirl of pleasure, amid the many or amid the few — wherever men congregate together, wherever the music of human speech is heard and human thought is flashed from human eyes, there, shunned and solitary, the shy man, like a leper, stands apart. His soul is full of love and longing, but the world knows it not. The iron mask of shyness is riveted before his face, and the man beneath is never seen.
Jerome K. Jerome (1859-1927) English writer, humorist [Jerome Klapka Jerome]
Idle Thoughts of an Idle Fellow, “On Being Shy” (1886)
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I never wish to offend, but I am so foolishly shy, that I often seem negligent, when I am only kept back by my natural awkwardness.
Shynesss is I-ness. Shyness is really wondering if you have other people’s approval.
Dorothy Sarnoff (1914-2008) American opera singer, actress, image consultant
Never Be Nervous Again (1987)
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Shyness is a very curious thing, because, like quicksand, it can strike people are any time, and also, like quicksand, it usually makes its victims look down.
Lemony Snicket (b. 1970) American author, screenwriter, musician (pseud. for Daniel Handler)
The Austere Academy (2000)
Hide not your Talents, they for Use were made.
What’s a Sun-Dial in the Shade?
Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790) American statesman, scientist, philosopher, aphorist
Poor Richard’s Almanack (Oct 1750)
Nobody cares if you can’t dance well. Just get up and dance.
Dave Barry (b. 1947) American humorist
“25 Things I Have Learned In 50 Years,” #25 (1997)
IMOGEN: Society is not comfort
To one not sociable.William Shakespeare (1564-1616) English dramatist and poet
Cymbeline, Act 4, sc. 2, l. 14ff (4.2.14-15) (1611)
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