To live is the rarest thing in the world. Most people exist, that is all.
Genuine
Yes. In The Soul of Man under Socialism (1891), The paragraph beginning “With the abolition of private property, then”, about a third of the way in.
Found word for word by program in the full text.
- Work
- The Soul of Man under Socialism, 1891
- Where
- The paragraph beginning “With the abolition of private property, then”, about a third of the way in
- Found at
- Paragraph 23 of the text
Researched by AI; checked by program against the full text on 31 October 2026. Editorial review: pending. How we check
On the page
[…] Now, nothing should be able to harm a man except himself. Nothing should be able to rob a man at all. What a man really has, is what is in him. What is outside of him should be a matter of no importance.
With the abolition of private property, then, we shall have true, beautiful, healthy Individualism. Nobody will waste his life in accumulating things, and the symbols for things. One will live. To live is the rarest thing in the world. Most people exist, that is all.
It is a question whether we have ever seen the full expression of a personality, except on the imaginative plane of art. In action, we never have. Cæsar, says Mommsen, was the complete and perfect man. […]
It will be a marvellous thing—the true personality of man—when we see it. It will grow naturally and simply, flowerlike, or as a tree grows. It will not be at discord. It will never argue or dispute. […]
The scene
Wilde’s essay argues that socialism matters because it will lead to Individualism: once private property is abolished, nobody will be forced to labour ‘by the peremptory, unreasonable, degrading Tyranny of want’, and nobody will be misled into making gain rather than growth his aim. The paragraph before says that man ‘will kill himself by overwork in order to secure property’ and so misses ‘the true pleasure and joy of living’. The line closes that argument; the essay goes on to the free personality that will grow ‘as a tree grows’, and to Christ’s message, ‘Be thyself’.
What it means
Living means developing what is in you; most people only exist, because their lives are spent getting and guarding possessions or scraping by. Free people from private property and from want, and they will live.
Often misread
Posted as a motivational call to live boldly: work harder, take risks, escape the ordinary by personal effort. Wilde says nearly the opposite. What keeps people merely existing is the system of private property and the overwork it demands, rich and poor alike; the remedy is social, not grind, and the essay is against hustling for possessions.
Also shared as
- The form on posters and social mediaTo live is the rarest thing in the world. Most people exist, that is all. Title of a YouTube video by the self-improvement creator Jett Franzen (@jettfranzen), 19 October 2026, described as a ‘Quote from Oscar Wilde’. The words are Wilde’s; the essay’s case against private property is left out. Where it was seen
A similar thought
- Henry David Thoreau, Walden, ‘Economy’, 1854: ‘The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation’: another diagnosis of lives spent on getting a living instead of living.
Topics
Related quotes
- Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm. Ralph Waldo Emerson
- Love is the only force capable of transforming an enemy into a friend. Martin Luther King Jr.
- Success usually comes to those who are too busy to be looking for it. (not found) Henry David Thoreau
- Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Live the life you have imagined. (paraphrase) Henry David Thoreau
- What a man thinks of himself becomes his fate. (paraphrase) Henry David Thoreau
Sources
- en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Oscar_Wilde (listed under The Soul of Man under Socialism, 1891)
- youtube.com/watch?v=sHR1z3XvwJM (Jett Franzen, 19 October 2026, ‘Quote from Oscar Wilde’)
Cite it
Oscar Wilde, The Soul of Man under Socialism (1891), The paragraph beginning “With the abolition of private property, then”, about a third of the way in. Checked at Quotogeny, https://quotogeny.com/q/to-live-is-the-rarest-thing-in-the-world/ (31 October 2026).
Have a different wording, or a source we missed? Check it or submit it.
Do you hold the rights to anything on this page? Tell us.
Checked by people
People who checked this entry against its source, under their own names. Their checks do not change the verdict: an editor reviews every entry.
Comments