--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: The first element of greatness is…" description: "\"The first element of greatness is fundamental humbleness (this should not be confused with servility); the second is freedom from self; the third is in..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/de5/margot-asquith-11364_confused_the-first-element-of-greatness-is-fundam_1764388.jpg" --- # The first element of greatness is fundamental humbleness… ![“The first element of greatness is fundamental humbleness (this should not be confused with servility); the second is freedom from self; the third is intrepid courage, which, taken in its widest interpretation, generally goes with truth; and the fourth-the power of love-although I have put it last…” quote by Margot Asquith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/de5/margot-asquith-11364_confused_the-first-element-of-greatness-is-fundam_1764388.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/de5/margot-asquith-11364_confused_the-first-element-of-greatness-is-fundam_1764388.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/de5/margot-asquith-11364_confused_the-first-element-of-greatness-is-fundam_1764388.jpg) > “The first element of greatness is fundamental humbleness (this should not be confused with servility); the second is freedom from self; the third is intrepid courage, which, taken in its widest interpretation, generally goes with truth; and the fourth-the power of love-although I have put it last, is the rarest.” [Margot Asquith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/margot-asquith/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Defines greatness through humility, self‑freedom, courage, truth, and love, in that order. **In simple terms:** Greatness = humility, freedom, courage, truth, love. Key Takeaway Cultivate humility and love first. Themes humility freedom courage truth love Mood inspirational reflective Type philosophical motivational When to use this quote - leadership - personal development - team building Key Concepts self‑transcendence integrity compassion Questions to Reflect On - Which element is hardest for you? - How can you practice humility daily? A Different Perspective Love is rare and may be overlooked. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Courage](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/courage/) [Elements](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/elements/) [Greatness](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/greatness/) [Humbleness](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/humbleness/) [Interpretation](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/interpretation/) [Power of love](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/power-of-love/) [Self](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/self/) [Servility](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/servility/) ## Related quotes > [Kindness is the essence of greatness and the fundamental characteristic of the noblest men and women I have known.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-b-wirthlin/kindness-is-the-essence-of-greatness-and-the-fundamental-2/) [Joseph B. Wirthlin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-b-wirthlin/) > [Kindness is the essence of greatness and the fundamental characteristic of the noblest men and women I have known. Kindness is a passport that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-b-wirthlin/kindness-is-the-essence-of-greatness-and-the-fundamental/) [Joseph B. Wirthlin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-b-wirthlin/) > [I think I can tell you how I experience God. I experience God as the power of life calling me to live, I experience…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-shelby-spong/i-think-i-can-tell-you-how-i-experience-god-i-experience-god-as-the/) [John Shelby Spong](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-shelby-spong/) > [We must not confuse humility with false modesty or servility.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paulo-coelho/we-must-not-confuse-humility-with-false-modesty-or-servility/) [Paulo Coelho](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paulo-coelho/) > [“the swarms of cringers, suckers, doughfaces, lice of politics, planners of sly involutions for their own preferment to city offices or state legislatures or…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walt-whitman/the-swarms-of-cringers-suckers-doughfaces-lice-of-politics-planners/) [Walt Whitman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walt-whitman/) > [The intellectual tradition is one of servility to power, and if I didn't betray it I'd be ashamed of myself.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/noam-chomsky/the-intellectual-tradition-is-one-of-servility-to-power-and-if-i-didn/) [Noam Chomsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/noam-chomsky/) > [Nothing can be further apart than true humility and servility.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-ward-beecher/nothing-can-be-further-apart-than-true-humility-and-servility/) [Henry Ward Beecher](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-ward-beecher/) > [... the public and the private worlds are inseparably connected ... the tyrannies and servilities of the one are the tyrannies and servilities of the other.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/virginia-woolf/the-public-and-the-private-worlds-are-inseparably-connected-the/) [Virginia Woolf](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/virginia-woolf/) > [The sovereign being is burdened with a servitude that crushes him, and the condition of free men is deliberate servility.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/georges-bataille/the-sovereign-being-is-burdened-with-a-servitude-that-crushes-him-and/) [Georges Bataille](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/georges-bataille/) > [Millions of people are getting the vote, and we have to educate them to keep them from our throats. In other words, we have…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/noam-chomsky/millions-of-people-are-getting-the-vote-and-we-have-to-educate-them/) [Noam Chomsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/noam-chomsky/) > [When people complain of the decay of manners they have in mind not the impudent abbreviations of the crowd, but the decline in bowing…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-wilson-lynd/when-people-complain-of-the-decay-of-manners-they-have-in-mind-not/) [Robert Wilson Lynd](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-wilson-lynd/) > [Could slavery suggest a more complete servility than some of these journals exhibit? Is there any dust which their conduct does not lick, and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-david-thoreau/could-slavery-suggest-a-more-complete-servility-than-some-of-these/) [Henry David Thoreau](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-david-thoreau/) > [Servility is disgusting to a truly noble character, and engenders only contempt.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hosea-ballou/servility-is-disgusting-to-a-truly-noble-character-and-engenders-only/) [Hosea Ballou](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hosea-ballou/) > [It is not serving, but servility, that is menial.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hortense-odlum/it-is-not-serving-but-servility-that-is-menial/) [Hortense Odlum](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hortense-odlum/) > [I think that knowledge enslaves us, that at the base of all knowledge there is a servility, the acceptation of a way of life…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/georges-bataille/i-think-that-knowledge-enslaves-us-that-at-the-base-of-all-knowledge/) [Georges Bataille](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/georges-bataille/) ## More by Margot Asquith > [She tells enough white lies to ice a wedding cake.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/margot-asquith/she-tells-enough-white-lies-to-ice-a-wedding-cake/) [Margot Asquith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/margot-asquith/) > [If Kitchener was not a great man, he was, at least, a great poster.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/margot-asquith/if-kitchener-was-not-a-great-man-he-was-at-least-a-great-poster/) [Margot Asquith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/margot-asquith/) > [Too much brilliance has its disadvantages, and misplaced wit may raise a laugh, but often beheads a topic of profound interest.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/margot-asquith/too-much-brilliance-has-its-disadvantages-and-misplaced-wit-may-raise/) [Margot Asquith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/margot-asquith/) > [the announcement that you are going to tell a good story (and the chuckle that precedes it) is always a dangerous opening.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/margot-asquith/the-announcement-that-you-are-going-to-tell-a-good-story-and-the/) [Margot Asquith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/margot-asquith/) > [“We desire no conquest, no dominion, we seek no indemnities, no material compensation for the sacrifices we shall freely make.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/margot-asquith/we-desire-no-conquest-no-dominion-we-seek-no-indemnities-no-material/) [Margot Asquith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/margot-asquith/) > [Haunted from my early youth by the transitoriness and pathos of life, I was aware that it is not enough to say "I am…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/margot-asquith/haunted-from-my-early-youth-by-the-transitoriness-and-pathos-of-life/) [Margot Asquith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/margot-asquith/) > [My sort of looks are of the kind that bore me when I see them on other people.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/margot-asquith/my-sort-of-looks-are-of-the-kind-that-bore-me-when-i-see-them-on/) [Margot Asquith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/margot-asquith/) > [“The home the military top brass had created for themselves was "picturesque, romantic and unreal", he wrote. "It was as though men were playing…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/margot-asquith/the-home-the-military-top-brass-had-created-for-themselves-was/) [Margot Asquith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/margot-asquith/) > [I have no face, only two profiles clapped together.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/margot-asquith/i-have-no-face-only-two-profiles-clapped-together/) [Margot Asquith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/margot-asquith/) > [ \[On Austen Chamberlain:\] He is more loyal to his friends than to his convictions. ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/margot-asquith/on-austen-chamberlain-he-is-more-loyal-to-his-friends-than-to-his/) [Margot Asquith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/margot-asquith/) > [His modesty amounts to deformity.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/margot-asquith/his-modesty-amounts-to-deformity/) [Margot Asquith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/margot-asquith/) > [Lloyd George? There is no Lloyd George. There is a marvellous brain; but if you were to shut him in a room and look…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/margot-asquith/lloyd-george-there-is-no-lloyd-george-there-is-a-marvellous-brain-but/) [Margot Asquith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/margot-asquith/) > [“The French suffered 531,000 casualties (dead, wounded and captured) in those three months, roughly as many as in the eight months of Verdun in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/margot-asquith/the-french-suffered-531-000-casualties-dead-wounded-and-captured-in/) [Margot Asquith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/margot-asquith/) > [It is always dangerous to generalize, but the American people, while infinitely generous, are a hard and strong race and, but for the few…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/margot-asquith/it-is-always-dangerous-to-generalize-but-the-american-people-while/) [Margot Asquith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/margot-asquith/) > [It is not dying, but living, that is a preparation for Death.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/margot-asquith/it-is-not-dying-but-living-that-is-a-preparation-for-death/) [Margot Asquith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/margot-asquith/) [Explore all 60 Margot Asquith quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/margot-asquith/) ## More Confused quotes > [The fact -- not theory -- that evolution has occurred and the Darwinian theory as to how it occurred have become so confused in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-gaylord-simpson/the-fact-not-theory-that-evolution-has-occurred-and-the-darwinian/) [George Gaylord Simpson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-gaylord-simpson/) > [Throughout human history, as our species has faced the frightening, terrorizing fact that we do not know who we are, or where we are…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/timothy-leary/throughout-human-history-as-our-species-has-faced-the-frightening/) [Timothy Leary](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/timothy-leary/) > [It is true that from a behavioral economics perspective we are fallible, easily confused, not that smart, and often irrational. We are more like…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dan-ariely/it-is-true-that-from-a-behavioral-economics-perspective-we-are/) [Dan Ariely](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dan-ariely/) > [I was a very protected and confused kid till 24. It was after then, that I started taking my life seriously.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/siddharth-shukla/i-was-a-very-protected-and-confused-kid-till-24-it-was-after-then/) [Siddharth Shukla](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/siddharth-shukla/) > [I can picture certain things in my mind, while writing the script, but then I can also tell that everyone else might be a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rob-zombie/i-can-picture-certain-things-in-my-mind-while-writing-the-script-but/) [Rob Zombie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rob-zombie/) > [America today is a confused society, caught up in a terror war, a culture war, and a media war, where honesty and professional standards…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-o-reilly/america-today-is-a-confused-society-caught-up-in-a-terror-war-a/) [Bill O'Reilly](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bill-o-reilly/) > [Well I'm trying to think what I put in... 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And with that he…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/douglas-adams/what-a-wonderfully-exciting-cough-said-the-little-man-quite-startled/) [Douglas Adams](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/douglas-adams/) > [I am still searching for the expression of those confused sensations that we bring with us at birth.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-cezanne/i-am-still-searching-for-the-expression-of-those-confused-sensations/) [Paul Cezanne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-cezanne/) > [If I look confused it is because I am thinking.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/samuel-goldwyn/if-i-look-confused-it-is-because-i-am-thinking/) [Samuel Goldwyn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/samuel-goldwyn/) > [Rage is exciting, but leaves me confused and exhausted.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mason-cooley/rage-is-exciting-but-leaves-me-confused-and-exhausted/) [Mason Cooley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mason-cooley/) > [I believe that much of Hollywood is confused about Israel.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-pellegrino/i-believe-that-much-of-hollywood-is-confused-about-israel/) [Mark Pellegrino](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-pellegrino/) > [My senior thesis was a documentary. 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