Sunday, 2 October 2011

Questioning the Value of Confidence.

I just realised that the older I get, the more I’m tending to shun confident people. This doesn’t apply to all confident people, but I find that confidence often breeds certainty, certainty encourages stagnation, and stagnation hinders growth. Politics, academe, the media and the world of celebrity are swimming with examples.

This is a generalisation, of course, and I have known the odd exception (mostly women.) But it would appear to explain why those in whom I’ve seen wisdom are often people whose self-confidence is fragile. Confident people just think they’re wise.

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