This was more how I looked at it. The circle really doesn't let mages excel at magic. Anyone that becomes powerful risks death, or worse... Mess with some kind of magic the Chantry deems taboo, death or tranquility. There is a lot of dialog that hints at the severe limits the circle and Chantry has placed on magic. Even one of his banters with Vivienne mentions that magic is far more than she understands it to be.
Yeah, one just has to look at the mess that occurred in Fereldan Circle in DAO to see how bad it is - the mages rebel, things go wrong and the Templars lose control to a point that they think the only way out is Circles' complete annihilation. If it wasn't for the efforts of HOF and their plucky teams, Templars would just resort to the crudest methods possible when it comes to solving the problem.
One may point out that the Circle has still managed to produce exceptional people, like Warden, Wynne, Vivienne or human Inky, but each and one of them is noted during the game to be exceptionally skilled either way. Other than that, the Circle does more to restrict the mages' powers, rather than letting them grow.
Oh sure, there are still powerful individuals and the Circle is an authority on magic... but only because (on the South at least) there rally is no other authority. The Circles basically epitomize the saying "In the land of the blind the one-eyed is a king"... and considering that Solas has witnessed the feats of magic probably nobody has seen before, or knows things he likely knows are relatively easily obtainable by other mages (despite the Veil) if it wasn't for Circles' limitations, the state of Southern mages and their captors must really be a sorry sight.
I'm not sure FernRain meant it to be an issue... seems more like a joke or light-hearted comment?
But in general: why be humble at all? It's a losing strategy and I'd rather it were not viewed as a good thing.
Solas is not humble, but he also does not overstate his abilities or flaunt them. He is simply confident, and it is true that he knows more than any other mage around at the time.
Also I think he would prefer that he weren't vastly more knowledgeable or skilled than everyone else. He *is* trying to restore the old magic after all. If someone friendly with more knowledge were around, he would probably nerd out excitedly and pester them with questions.
If it were all about his ego, he might have been happier living among the ignorant gremlins and using his superior skill to his advantage.
Yeah, one of the best things about Solas is that he recognizes people's talents and deeply appreciates dedication, progress and research. People may tease him for making snappish comment at Dorian for appropriating many elven things and magical techniques, but the first thing he does when we meet Dorian and he explains that he and Alexius researched time magic, is he smiles and is like "This is fascinating! Dangerus, but still!". He recognizes and praises Dorian's own magical prowess and readily asks him about new techniques, when Dorian has a trick or two Solas doesn't know. Both of them sound in their element and seem to appreciate one another when they discuss magic. Even with Vivienne he recognizes her talent, her intellect and poise - what bothers him the most is her mindset.
But it's not just with the mages; same with Cassandra - he praises her easily (S: "You fight hard Seeker!" C: "We would be dead if I did not" <- Cass is confident of her skills too) and instead of b*tching at Templars and them stopping magic he remarks how fascinating it is to watch Cass and Templars using their abilities. And when Cassandra asks about his perspective on Templar skills, he's delighted that they can have a conversation about it.
Same with mage specializations, especially his own or Knight-Enchanter - he doesn't jealously hold his own secrets of manipulating the Fade close to him, in fact he remarks that the Inquisitor learned quickly something that took him years to master. He never holds against anyone, no matter the race or approval level, that they're studying Arcane Warrior techniques; in fact he seems to be all for it as long as the knowledge is preserved and Inky wants to learn things by studying.
It is genuinely one of the things I like the most about Solas - for all his ancient-elfiness and world-destroying plans and having his head crammed a thousand years ago, he's remarkably open-minded, very progressive and curious about everything. He will chide Iron Bull for defending the Qun, only to ask later how the Qunari are putting on shirts 
He's for sharing and expanding knowledge and for it to be available to most, so long as it isn't abused.
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