I totally agree with this. I fall into the latter camp and generally stay quiet in order to avoid saying something wrong or foolish. But throughout life I’ve seen people surpass me who are initially less knowledgeable but who aren’t afraid to make mistakes or look foolish.

One most obvious case was when I studied in France for a semester. Even though my base knowledge upon arrival was higher than some of my peers, I was generally shy and embarrassed around native French speakers, while others who weren’t ended up getting a lot more experience and making a lot faster progress.