There are competent, accomplished professionals who nevertheless continually doubt their acumen. It's called imposter syndrome
Here we have an example of the exact opposite phenomenon
"I empathize with Americans who are exhausted after 25 years of foreign entanglements in the #MiddleEast. I understand the concern, but the difference is that back then we had dumb presidents"
@benroyce
"The fundamental cause of the trouble is that in the modern world the stupid are cocksure while the intelligent are full of doubt. Even those of the intelligent who believe that they have a nostrum are too individualistic to combine with other intelligent men from whom they differ on minor points."
-- Bertrand Russell in his essay "The Triumph of Stupidity"
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Going slightly off-topic, this also reminds me of W.B. Yeats' poem "The Second Coming" which includes:
"The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity."
But the entire poem should be considered required reading:
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/43290/the-second-coming
Turning and turning in the widening gyre The falcon cannot hear the falconer; Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold; Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world, The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere The ceremony of innocence is drowned; The best lack all conviction, while the worst Are…
Ben Royce 🇺🇦
Lea