Margot Asquith Quotes

"What a pity, when Christopher Columbus discovered America, that he ever mentioned it."

"He could not see a belt without hitting below it."

"He's very clever, but sometimes his brains go to his head."

"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 to love /although I have put it last, is the rarest."

"She tells enough white lies to ice a wedding cake."

"It is easier to influence strong than weak characters in life."

"There are big men, men of intellect, intellectual men, men of talent and men of action; but the great man is difficult to find, and it needs --apart from discernment --a certain greatness to find him."

"To marry a man out of pity is folly; and, if you think you are going to influence the kind of fellow who has ''never had a chance, poor devil,'' you are profoundly mistaken. One can only influence the strong characters in life, not the weak; and it is the height of vanity to suppose that you can make an honest man of anyone."

"The ingrained idea that, because there is no king and they despise titles, the Americans are a free people is pathetically untrue. There is a perpetual interference with personal liberty over there that would not be tolerated in England for a week."

"Symbols are the imaginative signposts of life."

"There are big men, men of intellect, intellectual men, men of talent and men of action; but the great man is difficult to find, and it needs /apart from discernment /a certain greatness to find him."

"His modesty amounts to deformity."

"The capacity to suffer varies more than anything that I have observed in human nature."

"It is always dangerous to generalize, but the American people, while infinitely generous, are a hard and strong race and, but for the few cemeteries I have seen, I am inclined to think they never die."

"He has a brilliant mind until he makes it up."

"Rich men's houses are seldom beautiful, rarely comfortable, and never original. It is a constant source of surprise to people of moderate means to observe how little a big fortune contributes to Beauty."

"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 to love --although I have put it last, is the rarest."

"If Kitchener was not a great man, he was, at least, a great poster."