One consolation that shy folk can take unto themselves is that shyness is certainly no sign of stupidity.
 Jerome K. Jerome, Idle Thoughts of an Idle Fellow (1886). copy citation

Context

“True, immediately after doing so I left the room with what may possibly have appeared to be precipitation and without waiting for any refreshment. But that was because I had changed my mind, not because I was frightened, you understand. One consolation that shy folk can take unto themselves is that shyness is certainly no sign of stupidity. It is easy enough for bull-headed clowns to sneer at nerves, but the highest natures are not necessarily those containing the greatest amount of moral brass. The horse is not an inferior animal to the cock-sparrow, nor the deer of the forest to the pig.” source