- I’ve never let anyone talk me into not believing in myself. [Muhammad Ali, Success Magazine, June 1998]
In basketball, most free-throw shooters eye the basket with a little fear in their eyes. Not Chauncey Billups. He would eye the basket like a chocolate truffle on a dessert plate.
“Confident” is the desired answer to the question “what do I think of myself.” The answer refers not only to the ability to perform tasks but to every ability, including the ability to relate to others and to negotiate through the maze of life. Put another way, the answer to the question is “I think I can!”
Real
True Narratives
I am convinced that Al Gore would have become president had he believed, as his opponent did, that he was worthy of his father. Justified or not, then Governor Bush conveyed an air of self-confidence while then-Vice President Gore did not.
Memoirs and other biographies:
- Patricia Albers, Joan Mitchell: Lady Painter: A Life (Alfred A. Knopf, 2011). “ . . . Joan Mitchell looks to be the only artist of her generation, man or woman, who produced a big, abstract, painterly painting that can stand up to the best of de Kooning and Pollock. The legions of arrogang young men who swaggered into the Cedar Tavern have been eclipsed by this woman who probably had more self-confidence and certainly had mot abundant gift than any guy her age in the room.”
- Jeffrey S. Frank, The Trials of Harry S. Truman: The Extraordinary Presidency of an Ordinary Man (Simon & Schuster, 2022): “. . . Truman had the native self-confidence that marks out a man as a leader.”
- Fanny Brice
- Barbra Streisand
Imaginary
Music: Composers, artists, and major works
Mozart, Horn Concerti:
- No. 1 in D major, k. 412
- No. 2 in E flat major, k. 417
- No. 3 in E flat major, k. 447
- No. 4 in E flat major, k. 495
Mozart, Violin Concerti:
- No. 1 in B flat major, k. 207
- No. 2 in D major, k. 211
- No. 3 in G major, k. 216
- No. 4 in D major, k. 218
- No. 5 in A major, k. 219
Clifford Brown, jazz trumpeter:
Compositions:
- Beethoven, Piano Sonata No. 11 in B-flat major, Op. 22, "Grand" (1800), “closes out this high-Classic phase of Beethoven’s sonata development on a note of absolute confidence in his mastery of the form.”
- Pericoli, Cello Sonatas (1752-1757)
- Brahms, Horn Trio in E-Flat Major, Op. 40 (1865)
- Weber: Piano Sonata No. 1 in C Major, Op. 24, J138; Piano Sonata No. 2 in A-flat Major, Op. 39, J199 (1816); Piano Sonata No. 3 in D minor, Op. 49, J206 (1816); Piano Sonata No. 4 in E minor, Op. 70, J287 (1822)
- Raga Shri (Shree), an evening Rag, “usually personified as a calm, self-controlled hero, and portrayed as a royal and prosperous person” [The Raga Guide (Nimbus, 1999)]; (performances by Banerjee, Ali Akbar Khan and Ravi Shankar)
- Raga Bairagi Bhairav (performances by Banerjee and Jasraj)
- Szymanowski, Violin Sonata in D Minor, Op. 9 (1904)
- Wordsworth, Symphony No. 5 in A Minor, Op. 68 (1960)
- Filippo Sauli, 6 Partitas for Solo Mandolin
Albums:
- Cannonball Adderley, “Somethin’ Else”
- The Michael Bank Septet, “The Dao of Swing”
- Dave Holland, “Another Land”
- Tommy Flanagan, “Solo Piano” (2011): comforting, gentle riffs on jazz piano
From the dark side, Fred Frith, musical purveyor of personal doubts, fears, anxieties and angst:
- Fred Frith and Hans Koch, “You Are Here”
- Fred Frith & Chris Brown, “Cutter Heads”
- Fred Frith & Danielle Palardy Roger, “Pas de Deux”
- Fred Frith & Noël Akchoté, “Reel”
- Fred Frith & Evan Parker, “Hello, I Must Be Going”
- Fred Frith, Sudhu Tewari & Cenk Ergün, “Lock Me Up, Lock Me Down”
Visual Arts
- Frida Kahlo, Self-Portrait with a Necklace (1933)
- Valentin Serov, Self-Portrait
- Orest Kiprensky, Self-Portrait (1828)
- Jean-Honoré Fragonard, Marie-Madeleine Guimard, Dancer (c. 1769)
- Jean-Honoré Fragonard, Portrait of a Young Artist (The Actor) (c. 1769)
- Jean-Honoré Fragonard, Portrait of Monsieur de la Breteche (1769)
Music: songs and other short pieces
- Johann Sebastian Bach, Solo Cello Suite No. 2 in D minor, bwv 1008: (5) Menuet, (6) Gigue
- Johann Sebastian Bach, Solo Cello Suite No. 6 in D Major, bwv 1012: (6) Gigue
On the dark side:
- Janis Ian, At Seventeen
Film and Stage
- Funny Girl, a dramatizationof Fanny Brice’s life and work, the film was a star vehicle for Barbra Streisand, herself a study in self-confidence
- The Tender Trap, aboutthe allure of a woman’s self-confidence
- Eighth Grade: middle school had gone poorly for Kayla but then she takes a few risks, opens herself and blossoms.
Fictional Narratives
Novels:
- Amy Tan, The Valley of Amazement (Ecco/HarperCollins Publishers, 2013): “Here are strong women struggling to survive all that life has to throw at them, created by a writer skilled at evoking the roil of emotions and mad exploits they experience when they follow their hearts.”
From the dark side, guilt:
- James Sallis, Sarah Jane: A Novel (Soho Crime, 2019): “Guilt about a righteous but unlawful killing hangs over Sarah Jane, driving both her self-destructive behavior and her acts of atonement.”