32 Quotes to Help You Understand and Overcome Social Anxiety

Social anxiety sufferers might be dreading the prospect of having to socialise again. In this article, we have gathered social anxiety quotes to help you recognise it and overcome it.

Social anxiety is often overlooked and misunderstood for shyness or an introverted nature. The reality is that, although symptoms may cross over with these characteristics, the challenges someone with social anxiety faces on a daily basis are much harder to overcome. 

I am someone who has been living with social anxiety for many years. For me, it took a particular YouTube video to switch on a lightbulb in my head for me to realise that “Hey, this might explain exactly the way I’ve always felt in social situations…” 

These misconceptions and the very nature of social anxiety also make it more difficult to recognise or diagnose. 

This is where other people’s experiences and social anxiety quotes can be so helpful. They allow you to recognise the experiences you face through others. Maybe they’ll lead you to help others recognise the symptoms, as has happened with me. 

You can read through our top 9 social anxiety quotes below to not only gain some understanding but to know that you are not alone in what you are feeling! 

If you are looking for ways to overcome your social anxiety and improve your mental health, we have also put together a massive list of 23 quotes to help you further down the page.

Quotes to Help You Understand Social Anxiety

Social Anxiety quotes - a group of people clinking wine glasses at a party.
“I certainly have not the talent which some people possess,” said Darcy, “of conversing easily with those I have never seen before. I cannot catch their tone of conversation, or appear interested in their concerns, as I often see done.”

Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice

She didn’t understand how other people did it, how they just strolled right up to strangers and started conversations — how they made themselves into people strangers would ever want to meet. She wasn’t shy, not exactly. She was afraid.

Katie Cotugno, Author

I think the most important thing I’ve learned, however, is that being social is supposed to be fun. I tend to forget this when I’m curled up in a ball, alone in my room, avoiding everything

Sarah Andersen, Sarah’s Scribbles

Just because I made it here doesn’t mean it was easy. And just because I don’t seem overwhelmed doesn’t mean I’m not

Jen Wilde, Queens of Geek

“That nervousness that makes your palms sweat and your heart race before you get up and make a speech in front of an audience? That’s what I feel in a normal conversation at the dinner table. Or just thinking about having a conversation at the dinner table.”

Jen Wilde, Queens of Geek

“I’m forever observing, trying to learn how to be an adult human being by watching others, and I’m constantly in awe of how easy some people make it look. And then I feel certain something is wrong with me for not being able to do said normal, easy, things with ease”

Jen Wilde, Queens of Geek

“I feel as though my real personality is locked up in a box inside of me, and that box doesn’t open until I’m alone. It saddens me so much that I can’t find a way to show anyone that I’m actually intelligent and funny and good company.”

Unknown

“The worst thing about social anxiety is that people simply don’t understand.”

Unknown

“I’m excellent at faking being okay with things, even when inside my brain there is a tiny screaming gnome who is definitely not okay.”

Alice Oseman, Author


Quotes to Help You Overcome Social Anxiety

Overcoming social anxiety quotes
“Care about what other people think and you will always be their prisoner.”

Lao Tzu, Philosopher

“You wouldn’t worry so much about what others think of you if you realized how seldom they do.”

Eleanor Roosevelt, Political figure, diplomat and activist

“The moment of crisis had come, and I must face it. My old fears, my diffidence, my shyness, my hopeless sense of inferiority, must be conquered now and thrust aside. If I failed now I should fail forever.”

Daphne du Maurier, Rebecca

“It exasperated her to think that the dungeon in which she had languished for so many unhappy years had been unlocked all the time, and that the impulses she had so carefully struggled with and stifled for the sake of keeping well with society, were precisely those by which alone she could have come into any sort of sincere human contact.”

George Bernard Shaw, Playwright

“It’s weird how we have to get a little older to realize that people are just people. It should be obvious, but it’s not.”

Christine Riccio, Author

“But I don’t want you to keep pretending you’re okay. I don’t want you to keep downplaying the hurt you feel like you’re not even human. You keep it up – all these lies to yourself, to other people, and soon you’re not going to know who you are.”

Farah Naz Rishi, Writer and voice actor

“You are not weak. People like us, we’re brave. We’re the ones who get up and face our worst fears every day. We keep fighting”

Jen Wilde, Queens of Geek

“Difficult roads often lead to beautiful destinations. The best is yet to come.”

Zig Ziglar, Author

“If you can’t fly then run, if you can’t run then walk, if you can’t walk then crawl, but whatever you do you have to keep moving forward.”

Martin Luther King Jr.

“If you don’t like something, change it; if you can’t change it, change the way you think about it.”

Mary Engelbreit, Artist

“The way you tell your story to yourself matters.”

Amy Cuddy, Social psychologist

“Worry often gives a small thing a big shadow.”

Swedish Proverb

“What people in the world think of you is really none of your business.”

Martha Graham, Dancer

“To change ourselves effectively, we first had to change our perceptions.”

Stephen R. Covey, Author, businessman, and keynote speaker

“A positive attitude gives you power over your circumstances instead of your circumstances having power over you.”

Joyce Meyer, Author

“Worry is like a rocking chair: it gives you something to do but never gets you anywhere.”

Erma Bombeck, Humorist

“Real difficulties can be overcome; it is only the imaginary ones that are unconquerable.”

Theodore N. Vail, Businessman

“Someone’s opinion of you does not have to become your reality.”

Les Brown, Motivational speaker

“You don’t have to control your thoughts. You just have to stop letting them control you.”

Dan Millman, Author and lecturer

“If you always do what you’ve always done, you’ll always get what you’ve always got.”

Henry Ford, Founder of Ford Motor Company

“When you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change.”

Dr Wayne Dyer, Self-help and spiritual author

“Everything you have ever wanted, is sitting on the other side of fear.”

George Addair

“The man who moves a mountain begins by carrying away small stones.”

Confucius, Philosopher

Wanischa Sirivarangkun
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