Quiet isn’t weak. A car idling at a red light still has the whole engine.

Volume gets mistaken for capability because it is the part you can see. Someone saying little might be uninterested, or might be holding everything in reserve until there is a reason to use it, and from outside those look identical. That ambiguity works in the quiet person’s favor and against anybody guessing. Most people guess wrong in the same direction.

If you are the quiet one, stop apologizing for it and make sure the engine is real by doing the work nobody sees. If you are reading the room, stop scoring people by how much they say. Ask the quiet one a direct question.