Confidant or egotistical?

In the myth, Narcissus and Echo, Narcissus is a character who falls in love with the reflection of his own face, developing a certain "self-love". He fell in love with himself and decided he couldn't fall in love with another, thus he then chose to kill himself. (This is an example of narcissism gone horribly wrong.)

Q: Is being narcissistic always a bad thing? Where is the line between confidance and overconfidance?

When thinking of narcissism, egotism, or overconfidance, often a negative connotation is implied. We think of people as being arrogant and full of themselves, but are we being too, perhaps, harsh on those who think of themselves as higher and simply better human beings than the people around them? There is no answer for this question, despite that the most common one would be most certainly "no".

People can think of themselves as better than others based on several factors, including intelligence, beauty, or wealth. Their high self-esteems are either based on what they think other people's perception of them is, or just facts. For example, if one is beautiful, they know it by hearing others say so, and if one is highly intellectual, such things as test scores and career choices can highly influence them in thinking of themselves as "higher quality" individuals. But do these people have the right to think in this fashion when they compare themselves with the ugliest, stupidest man next door? What if this man has enriched peoples' lives, given to the poor, and taken time out of his life to help those in need of his care? Is a beautiful, intelligent man more valuable than a caring, warm, affectionate man?