The way you overcome shyness is to become so wrapped up in something that you forget to be afraid. Not to know is bad. Not to want to know is worse. Not to hope is unthinkable. Not to care is unforgivable.
Mediocrity knows nothing higher than itself, but talent instantly recognizes genius.
If you have no will to change it, you have no right to criticize it. When you get into a tight place and everything goes against you, till it seems as though you could not hang on a minute longer, never give up then, for that is just the place and time that the tide will turn. All acts performed in the world begin in the imagination. Just don't give up trying to do what you really want to do. Where there is love and inspiration, I don't think you can go wrong.