Some input.
Quiet confidence is not caring about confidence. It's not seeking it as a goal. Confidence is a means, a way of life, an end.
It's being centered. Not needing anything. You spirit isn't thrown out of balance over money, women, image, or cars.
It's keeping the EGO in check and going for what truly makes you happy. I.e. the girl who treats you better, rather than the girl who looks better.
It's keeping yourself in check. Not trying to dominate another person, not trying to one-up them. Nobody likes perfectionist braggerts.
It's knowing that you don't, and won't, know everything. But could learn anything, and can find the answer if need be. I.e. Henry Ford.
It's realizing that nobody is perfect and being able to laugh at life. The guy who laughs over mishaps rather than overreacts to them is more centered. He doesn't lose needless energy on meaningless, short-term trivialities.
It's not leaning in on someone emotionally. It's self-control of inner spirit. You don't need anything. You want things, and when you get them, they're on your terms. When things aren't on your terms, and aren't in accordance with our true inner feelings, it sucks the energy from within, making it harder to perform others functions and causes us to drain off others.
Let the guys who chime in here reveal the truth behind it. In all cases where I remained within myself and realized something was not worth the drain of energy and life it took, I felt better. In addition, when a woman put me in a position to desire aggressive action, I backed off. I wasn't going to fall into it as if I needed it, or as if I'd take action to defend myself. Both cases represent a disease of the ego to protect itself, as if the slings and arrows of normal life could damage it.
Confidence doesn't require a confirmation of outside acceptance. "Social proof" isn't needed, and even when the time comes you get it, you don't care anyway. All you have is all you need, and you will get in time what you're willing to pay for through hard work.
Anything that can be acquired, can be lost.
Don't aim to ACQUIRE confidence, for then it can be lost. If you base it on such things as image (ego), these thing detriorate, fail, breakdown, are lost, and so forth.
Money comes and goes.
Friends come and go.
Looks come and go.
Talent comes and goes.
I recall watching an expose on Playmates and what happens after their time is up. IF a girl is spectacular enough to reach the upper echelon of beauty, then she is amongst one of the tops in the world. She gets a fat deal and access to the playboy mansion insofaras she remains respectable. However, they sign iron-clad contracts, and as naive girls, they think it's ok. Down the road, they can be bound to prevented from doing certain modeling gigs because the rights are owned by Hugh. So their main asset becomes a liablity because they have...
-no education.
-no control over their contracts or pictures.
-fixed money.
Not that it's bad, but the few girls who make it tops, THEN have to acceed to modeling. Some go to porn and get booted from the Playboy mansion for life. Most don't get acting jobs because it's not respectable enough (Carmen, and Anderson were the flukes). Granted they get access and lifestyle unparalleled, but so do many lottery winners and most lottery winners end up worse off than they started (over 85% end up Bankrupt).
This only demonstrates how need and intangible, fleeting factors of confidence kill the person.
Bottom-line...if your using proofs outside yourself for confidence, your losing the confidence factor.
A-Unit