“自私並不等於是一個人按自己的意願而生活，而是要他人按自己的意願生活。一個無私的人總是能尊重他人獨處的需要，不幹預他人的生活。自私的人總是要在自己身邊創造出一種絕對單一的氛圍。無私的人，卻能認識到多樣化是一種令人愉快的風格，從而接受之，默許之，享受之。以自我為中心的思考並非是自私的行為。一個不能這樣做的人其實就是一個完全不能思考的人。強求他人俺自己的方式思考，從而稟賦同一的觀點，這其實才是令人作嘔的自私。為什麽別人非要和自己一樣呢？如果他人能思考，他人一定會有不同樣式的思考。如果他人不能思考，那麽要他人有任何一種思想都是絕不可能的事。一朵紅玫瑰本身是毫無自私可言的，但如果這朵紅玫瑰一定要整個花園的花都是玫瑰，並且都是紅色，那才是驚人的自私。”
---奧斯卡 王爾德
“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. Selfishness always aims at creating around it an absolute uniformity of type. Unselfishness recognises infinite variety of type as a delightful thing, accepts it, acquiesces in it, enjoys it. It is not selfish to think for oneself. A man who does not think for himself does not think at all. It is grossly selfish to require of one's neighbour that he should think in the same way, and hold the same opinions. Why should he? If he can think, he will probably think differently. If he cannot think, it is monstrous to require thought of any kind from him. A red rose is not selfish because it wants to be a red rose. It would be horribly selfish if it wanted all the other flowers in the garden to be both red and roses."
---Oscar Wilde
