“A man rarely carries his shyness past the hobbledehoy period. Even if his own inward strength does not throw it off, the rubbings of the world generally smooth it down.”
Idle Thoughts of an Idle Fellow (1886)
Help us to complete the source, original and additional information
Jerome K. Jerome 87
English humorist 1859–1927Related quotes

Opium (1929)

“When she started to play, Steinway came down personally and rubbed his name off the piano.”

Speech in the House of Lords, on the taxation of Americans by the British parliament, 7 March 1766; as reported in The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations (1990), 2nd edn., p. 60.

Characterizations of Existentialism (1944)

“He knows his own strength; he knows that he was born to carry burdens.”
Epistulae Morales ad Lucilium (Moral Letters to Lucilius), Letter LXXI: On the supreme good
“A man's strength is ultimately born of his knowledge of his own weakness …”
Source: Drenai series, Legend, Pt 1: Against the Horde, Ch. 7

The Rosy Crucifixion I : Sexus (1949), Chapter 1. (New York: Grove Press, c1965, p. 17-18)