Begin the Week with Words

I finished reading Memoirs of a Geisha, by Arthur Golden, the week before Christmas and came across a quote that struck me immediately. I think it did so because I could immediately see how it is applicable to the every day life of anyone.

The sentences leading up to the quote below speak of defeating another person. The character speaking (a minor, side character) says he does not try to defeat a man, but to defeat the man's confidence, in order to win any competition. I don't so much like the idea of defeating people, it goes against my nature, unless the game is in good fun. However the sentence that follows these statements I find valuable:

"Two men are equals - true equals - only when they both have equal confidence."

Is it as simple as that? Sounds simple, but sometimes it is really hard to have or show confidence.