| 1. | Not diffident of thee do I dissuad. - from Paradise Lost by John Milton |
| 2. | Young men should be diffident of themselves, you know, M. - from Frankenstein by Mary Wollstonecraft (Godwin) Shelley |
| 3. | He's the kind of diffident youth who would have to be VERY sure before he ventured an opinion at all.. - from The Secret Adversary by Agatha Christie |
| 4. | When she left off--and she had not laughed languidly, but with real enjoyment--I said, in my diffident way with her,-. - from Great Expectations by Charles Dickens |
| 5. | Princess Mary seemed even quieter and more diffident than usual. - from War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy |
| 6. | "But I thought this was just the line of work I ought to go into," he explained, "I have always been diffident and I thought the training would do me good.. - from How to Analyze People on Sight by Elsie Lincoln Benedict and Ralph Paine Benedict |
| 7. | He was too diffident to do justice to himself but when his natural shyness was overcome, his behaviour gave every indication of an open, affectionate heart. - from Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen |