Timidity is a fault for which it is dangerous to reprove persons whom we wish to correct of it. – Francois de la Rochefoucauld

It is only through timidity that states are lost. – Voltaire (François-Marie Arouet)

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. – Sir Henry Taylor

The bashful are always aggressive at heart. – Charles Horton Cooley