To ask for something one needed an irrepressible trust in oneself and others

Robert Walser, The Assistant. Translator, Susan Bernofsky.): 

"Silvi was incapable of asking for things, she was too shy and disingenuous, she never quite dared; in order to ask for something, one must have an irrepressibly, powerful trust both in oneself and others. If one is to find the lovely courage to utter a fervent plea, one must from the outset be firmly, indeed adamantly convince that the request will be fulfilled, but Silvi was convinced of no one's kindness, as she had been all too soon and incautiously inured to quite different sort of treatment. A beaten-down slovenly little creature like Silvi can easily become more disagreeable to endure and more unsightly to behold with each passing day, for a small person like this will not only abandon all self-discipline and care, but indeed will exert herself -- motivated by a secret, painful defiance no one would expect of such an undeveloped child -- to goad the antipathy and disgust of those around her to ever higher levels by means of ever more loathsome conduct. In fact, the case of Silvi was most peculiar: it was almost impossible to feel love for her when one was looking at her. One's eyes always condemned her at once. Only one's heart, provided one had one, would later speak in her favor, saying: Poor little Silvi!"