M'aiq's phrases were included to poke fun of the things that forum members complained about on the official forums, and as partial rebuttals to those comments. Below are the phrases that he says in game, along with their likely meanings.
"M'aiq knows much, tells some. M'aiq knows many things others do not."
This is what he says as a greeting when you enter conversation with him.
"M'aiq longs for a Colovian Fur Helm. Practical, yet stylish. M'aiq is very sad he does not have one."
A reference to the Colovian Fur Helm that M'aiq wore in Morrowind, and the first piece of armor found by many players in that game (on Tarhiel's corpse). Logically, a Colovian helm should have been available in Oblivion, as the entirety of Colovia is accessible to the player. Furthermore, the Colovian Fur Helm is not part of a full set of Colovian Fur Armor; there is no such thing - perhaps a sign of why it was left out of Oblivion.
"M'aiq wishes he had a stick made out of fishies to give to you. Sadly, he does not."
This is a reference to the Fishy Stick fad on the official forums.
"M'aiq believes the children are our future. But he doesn't want them ruining all of our fun."
A reference to discussion on the forums during development about whether children should be included in Oblivion. One group wanted children to be in to add realism; the other group argued that if children were added then the player would be allowed to kill them and the game would be denounced as a child murder simulator. A counter to this would be to make the children invincible, but the opposition countered this saying that doing that would ruin any initial realism.
"M'aiq thinks his people are beautiful. The Argonian people are beautiful as well. They look better than ever before."
An answer to complaints that the beast races looked better in Morrowind, and to people who do not like the "beast races."
"Some people wish to throw their weapons. That seems foolish to M'aiq. If you hold your weapon, you only need one."
Referring to the lack of throwing knives, darts, and stars in Oblivion.
"Some people want special bows that take too long to load and need special arrows called bolts. M'aiq thinks they are idiots."
Reference to a heated discussion in the forums that occurred when one of the developers confirmed that neither crossbows nor throwing weapons would be included in the game.
"Feet are for walking. Hands are for hitting. Or shaking. Or waving. Sometimes for clapping."
A reference to various complaints about limits on the range of uses for limbs available to the average adventurer, including the inability to kick.
"M'aiq prefers to adventure alone. Others just get in the way. And they talk, talk, talk."
A reference to the discussion about Oblivion being a multiplayer game, and limits on NPC assistance. Multiplayer is one of M'aiq's recurring topics (another anti-multiplayer easter egg might be the Adoring Fan; all he does is get in the way and talk).
"People always enjoy a good fable. M'aiq has yet to find one, though. Perhaps one day."
Perhaps a reference to how the game Fable was perceived to stack up poorly to its legendary hype. During development, Oblivion was often compared to Fable.
"So much easier to get around these days. Not like the old days. Too much walking. Of course, nothing stops M'aiq from walking when he wants."
M'aiq dismisses complaints over the new Fast Travel system which replaced the myriad transit systems found throughout Morrowind.
"M'aiq is glad he has a compass. Makes it easy to find things. Much better than wandering around like a fool."
Referring to the Quest Compass objections.
"Why would one want to swing a staff? A mace hurts more. Or a sword. Can't shoot a fireball from a sword, though."
Since staves were a blunt weapon in Morrowind some folks didn't like it when they discovered that they would only be used as "spell launchers" and not melee weapons anymore. This also applies in reverse, where melee weapons could only have 'on strike' enchantments, rather than 'on cast', or even 'constant effect'.
"I do not wish to fight on horseback. It is a good way to ruin a perfectly good horse... which is, to say, a perfectly good dinner."
Before the release of Oblivion, the news that mounted combat would not be possible created considerable controversy in the forums, culminating in a petition asking Bethesda to reconsider which included 500+ signatures. Even so, mounted combat was not included in the game. "A perfectly good dinner" is a reference to one of M'aiq's lines from Morrowind, where he states that he likes horses "especially with good cream sauce", which is itself a reference to fan complaints about the lack of horses in Morrowind.
"Levitation is for fools. Why would we want to levitate? Once you are up high, there is nowhere to go but down."
Yet another feature Morrowind had that Oblivion does not is levitation; jumping height was restricted as well. Oblivion's major cities are in separate cells from the world, and the appropriate content (either the inside of cities, or the wilderness outside) is not loaded if you enter a new cell without using the door. An earlier variation of this concept is found in the Morrowind expansion Tribunal, where clipping and a message inform you from jumping over the walls is restricted (although the Mournhold wilderness is not found past the walls in that game).
"It is good the people wear clothing. M'aiq wears clothing. Who would want to see M'aiq naked? Sick, sick people. Very sad."
A debate was armed in the forums about if nudity should be in the game or not like it was in Daggerfall -- and in fact, a minor media storm ensued when it was discovered that females in Oblivion can go around bare-chested with a special mod. M'aiq also commented about this in Morrowind. It may also refer to the fact Khajiits appeared naked in Morrowind.
"I don't know why one would want to destroy a building. It takes time to make it. Much time."
A reference to the fact that Oblivion features no destructible environments. It is reasonable to assume that destructible environments would have a negative impact on performance.
"I have seen dragons. Perhaps you will see a dragon. I won't say where I saw one. Perhaps I did not."
Dragons are idolized at the forums and everyone hoped they would make regular appearances in Oblivion, but they did not. The Avatar of Akatosh counts as a single sighting, but M'aiq prefers not to spoil your game. Of course, M'aiq may say this before the Avatar appears. Dragons exist in Elder Scrolls lore, but rarely make appearances in games.
"Werewolves? Where? Wolves? Men that are wolves? Many wolves. Everywhere. Many men. That is enough for M'aiq."
Another widely expected feature was were-creatures since werewolves made a stellar appearance in Morrowind's expansion "Bloodmoon". Because of development time related issues they did not include them in Oblivion, and they have not made an appearance in the expansion packs either.

Some of us actualy took a strong disliking to being called "fools" and "idiots". To make the point more galling still, the developers made Maiq "essential".

I was very tempted at one point to make a "Meek Maiq" mod, where he either sympathizes or apologizes for the developers' choices in making Oblivion: "Maiq sees that you are very upset. Maiq wishes he could levitate away, but cannot do this." "Sadly, Maiq does not have one of these things called spears. Maiq does not know what happened to these spears." "Maiq has nothing interesting to say. If Maiq were another person, Maiq might have something interesting to say."

"M'aiq knows about politics. He knows that politics are hard but rewarding. He also knows that they are too hard for some people... and especially too hard for people who sit on couches."

"Some people want sticks which shoot fireballs like staffs, except they need pellets called ammo, why would you use a stick which fires pellets when you have a staff which does it for you?"

A little bashing for all those who wanted guns.

"Some people want to climb rocks to see what is on the other side, but why would you climb when you can walk around them?"

Reference to the rock-climbing idea

"Some people think casting spells is too easy, some people want to fail while casting spells, that is like saying maiq wants a new sword to kill himself."

Reference to spell-failure

"Maiq is lucky because maiq has lived for so long, i think the gods have blessed maiq with prolonged life to spread messages of wisdom"

A little reference to the essential thing, 'gods' refers to devs for those who didn't get it

Actually i quite enjoyed oblivion's maiq rather than morrowinds, his bashing was unique and made him really stand out from the crowd, because he was the only one who really spoke to the game fans directly.

Oh and thanks Chriso

His statements are only insulting if you take them at such. At one point or another the game isn't yours, nor is the developers vision, and no one is forcing you to play the game, AND, despite your whining, Oblivion has been widely successful. If you take offense from Maiq's quotes, you take yourself WAY too seriously. He isn't taking a jab at you (or the developers aren't, I should say), he's taking a jab at the ideas - which the developers didn't implement for whatever reason, which is there own. Most people find Maiq humorous. Why? Because he's funny.