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Susan Cain Quotes (1968-)
Author, Writer, Musician
About Susan Cain
Susan Cain (born 1968) is an American writer and lecturer, and author of the non-fiction book Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking (2012) which argues that modern Western culture misunderstands and undervalues the traits and capabilities of introverted people. Her follow-on book, Quiet Power (2016), was adapted for children and teens, and for their educators and parents. Cain's Bittersweet: How Sorrow and Longing Make Us Whole (2022) encourages readers to accept feelings of sorrow and longing as inspiration to experience sublime emotions—such as beauty and wonder and transcendence—to counterbalance the "normative sunshine" of society's pressure to constantly be positive.
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Explore our curated collection of the most famous and impactful Susan Cain quotes.
“Love is essential, gregariousness is optional.”
“Whatever pain you can't get rid of, make it your creative offering.”
“Our difficulty accepting impermanence is the heart of human suffering.”
“We (introverts) are not anti-social; we’re differently social.”
“The place where you suffer is the same space where you commit yourself to act.”
“One honest relationship can be more productive than fistfuls of business cards.”
“How did a nation founded on so much heartache turn into a culture of normative smiles?”
“I'm seeing businesses embrace the Quiet Revolution as the next great diversity issue of our time.”
“We like art forms that express our longing for union, and for a more perfect and beautiful world.”
“The key to maximizing talents is to put yourself into the zone of stimulation that’s right for you.”
“It’s never a good idea to organize society in a way that depletes the energy of half the population.”
“There's no correlation between expressing an idea assertively or charismatically, and having a good idea.”
“Everyone shines, given the right lighting. For some, it’s a Broadway spotlight, for others, a lamplit desk.”
“We've known about the transcendent power of solitude for centuries; it's only recently that we've forgotten it.”
“Longing is momentum in disguise: It's active, not passive; touched with the creative, the tender, and the divine.”
Susan Cain Quotes by Topic
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Susan Cain on Introversion 5 quotes
“Many introverts feel there’s something wrong with them, and try to pass as extroverts. But whenever you try to pass as something you’re not, you lose a part of yourself along the way.”
Susan Cain on Personality 2 quotes
“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 on Metamorphosis
“The date had arrived, the idyll was over and my metamorphosis was complete. I was now that impossibly oxymoronic. I was now that impossibly oxymoronic creature: the Public Introvert.”
Susan Cain on Groupthink
“Solitude is out of fashion. Our companies, our schools and our culture are in thrall to an idea I call the New Groupthink, which holds that creativity and achievement come from an oddly gregarious place.”
Susan Cain on Character
“We moved from what cultural historians call a culture of character to a culture of personality. During the culture of character, what was important was the good deeds that you performed when nobody was looking. … But at the turn of the (20th) century, when we moved into this culture of personality, suddenly what was admired was to be magnetic and charismatic.”
Quotes About Susan Cain
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Warner on Susan Cain
“Unchecked extroversion — a personality trait Cain ties to ebullience, excitability, dominance, risk-taking, thick skin, boldness and a tendency toward quick thinking and thoughtless action — has actually, she argues, come to pose a real menace of late. The outsize reward-seeking tendencies of the hopelessly outer-directed helped bring us the bank meltdown of 2008 as well as disasters like Enron, she claims.”
About Susan Cain
Susan Cain (born 1968) is an American writer and lecturer, and author of the non-fiction book Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking (2012) which argues that modern Western culture misunderstands and undervalues the traits and capabilities of introverted people. Her follow-on book, Quiet Power (2016), was adapted for children and teens, and for their educators and parents. Cain's Bittersweet: How Sorrow and Longing Make Us Whole (2022) encourages readers to accept feelings of sorrow and longing as inspiration to experience sublime emotions—such as beauty and wonder and transcendence—to counterbalance the "normative sunshine" of society's pressure to constantly be positive.