‘The virtues of the poor may be readily admitted and are much to be regretted [...] the best among the poor are never grateful. They are ungrateful, discontented, disobedient and rebellious. They are quite right to be so [...] Disobedience, in the eyes of anyone who has read history, is man’s original virtue [...] As for the virtuous poor, one can pity them, of course, but one cannot possibly admire them.’ 'They have made private terms with the enemy and sold their birthright for very bad pottage. They must also be extraordinarily stupid. I can quite understand a man accepting laws that protect private property, and admit of its accumulation, as long as he himself is able under these conditions to realise some form of beautiful and harmonious life. But it is almost incredible to me that a man whose life is marred and made hideous by such laws can possibly acquiesce in their continuance.’ (From The Soul of Man Under Socialism, ed. GF Maine, 1961.)

‘[...] The new individualism, for whose service socialism, whether it wills or not, is working, will be perfect harmony. It will be what the Greeks sought for, but could not expect in thought, realise completely because they had slaves, and fed them; it will be what the Renaissance sought for, but could not realise completely except in Art, because they has slaves, and starved them. It will be complete, and through it each man will attain to his perfection. The new Individualism is the new Hellenism.’

‘People sometimes enquire what form of government is most suitable for an artist to live under. To this there is only one answer, [...] no government at all. Authority over him and his art is ridiculous [...] There are three kinds of despots. There is the despot who tyrannises over the body. There is the despot who tyrannises over the soul. There is the despot who tyrannises over the soul and body alike. The first is called the Prince. The second is called the Pope. The third is called the People.’

‘Work is the refuge of people who have nothing better to do.’ [...]

‘In the modern stress of competition and struggle for place, sympathy is naturally rare, and is also very much stifled by the immoral ideal of uniformity of type and conformity to rule which is so prevalent everywhere, and is perhaps most obnoxious in England.’ ('The Soul of Man under Socialism’, in Complete Works, Collins 1973, p.1102.)

‘The only thing that one really knows about human nature is that it changes. Change is the one quality we can predict of it. The systems that fail are those that rely on he permanency of human nature, and not on its growth and development. The error of Louis XIV was that he thought human nature would always be the same. The result of his error was the French Revolution. It was an admirable result. (Works [ q. edn.], p.1194; cited in Selina Mooney, MA Diss. UUC, 1999.)

‘Selfishness is not living as one wishes to live, it is asking others to live as one wishes to live. And unselfishness is letting other people’s lives alone, not interfering with them.’ (idem.)

‘But it may be asked how Individualism, which is now more or less dependent on the existence of private property for its development, will benefit by the abolition of such private property. The answer is very simple. It is true that, under existing conditions, a few men who have had private means of their own, such as Byron, Shelley, Browning, Victor Hugo, Baudelaire, and others, have been able to realise their personality more or less completely. not of these did a single day’s work for hire.’ (Quoted in Ellmann, Oscar Wilde, p.260.)