The Egoist is Meredith's most representative novel.

The egoists may be the martyrs of a nobler dispensation, agonizing for a more arduous ideal.

And The Egoist is a satire; so much must be allowed; but it is a satire of a singular quality, which tells you nothing of that obvious mote, which is engaged from first to last with that invisible beam.

The Egoist is the most Meredithian of the author's novels, and it displays most exuberantly his comic spirit, intent upon photographing mankind's follies.