I wasn't a social drinker. I used to say that I didn't want to go to bars because they were full of assholes like me.
In Silicon Valley, I point out that many of the more successful entrepreneurs seem to be suffering from a mild form of Asperger's where it's like you're missing the imitation, socialization gene.
We're frightened of what makes us different.
The best would be to have friends who came and went away; but if I had to choose between their never coming or never going away, I think I would choose that they do not come.
People are really rather afraid that this country might be rather swamped by people with a different culture...
At my very core, I'm pretty shy. I just happen to have a weird job.
I'm self-loathing, introverted, and neurotic.
I don't want anyone to ever feel they are alone and no one likes them, or to feel as insecure as I did.
From the time I was a little kid, I was always shy. Performing was when I was outgoing. So I guess I am a loner. I get claustrophobia if a lot of people are around.
I'm an introvert, but I disguise my introversion by being an extrovert. If I don't have to be around people, I'm not. If I'm around people, I'm gonna do my thing. But I'm not really with the fake kickin' it - everything's organic, everything's natural.
I drink to make other people interesting.
I constantly peed in my pants up until the 8th grade and wore an extra-large sailor uniform from kindergarten to 8th grade because my mom was scared I'd grow out of it. So I learned to make fun of myself at school and summer camp.
I was the tallest guy in the school, and I was very conscious of being larger than anybody - classmates and teachers.
There are times when I am convinced I am unfit for any human relationship.
I feel like I want to crawl out of my skin, especially when people start questioning me.
If I am with one person, I am very talkative, and personable. I will talk your ear off, but if there is another person interjected, I get so awkward. I am like the awkward one in those situations, but I feel like a lot of creative people are.
Are black people conscious of how excruciatingly self-conscious white people have become in their every interaction with black people? Is this self-consciousness an improvement? Maybe not, because I'm thinking of people in categories rather than as people, which is a famously dangerous thing to do.
I am not a people person. It's not that I am shy, but I am more comfortable in an atmosphere of one-on-one. I hate crowds and parties.
You know why I fear people's judgment? Because I know they're judging. I know they are.
I don't get embarrassed by the same things that other people do. I would say that probably the biggest thing that holds people back is, 'If I do this, I'm going to look like an idiot if it doesn't work out.'
If I went to somewhere busy, I wouldn't last very long. I can't go to a museum - I'll last 10 or 15 minutes in a museum. The problem is that when one person asks for a photograph, then someone sees a flash goes off, then everyone else sort of... it's sort of like a domino effect.
I don't like people; I don't let too many people into my life.
As a young person, and I know it's hard to believe that I was shy, but you could take your camera, and it would take you to places: it was like having a friend, like having someone to go out with and look at the world. I would do things with a camera I wouldn't do normally if I was just by myself.
I felt highly anxious in a way that I didn't think other children were.
I never really consider myself an awkward person, but once I got into stand-up, I kept hearing that word. The only thing I can trace it back to is that my mom had a similar sensibility. She always made people uncomfortable.
