Ayn Rand Quotes
Roark spoke quietly. He was the only man in the room who felt certain of his own words.
But, you see, it's not what you do that matters really. It's only you.""Me what?""Just you here. Or you in the city. Or you somewhere in the world. I don't know. Just that.
The exquisite kindliness of her manner suggested that their relationship was of no possible consequence, that she could not pay him the tribute of hostility.
You, whom I have always loved and never found, you whom I expected to see at the end of the rails beyond the horizon—
What’s wealth but the means of expanding one’s life? There’s two ways one can do it: either by producing more or by producing it faster.
A man’s spirit is his self. That entity which is his consciousness. To think, to feel, to judge, to act are functions of the ego.
If, to him, love was a celebration of one’s self and of existence—then, to the self-haters and life-haters, the pursuit of destruction was the only form and equivalent of love.
..it is precisely the self that cannot and must not be sacrificed. It is the unsacrificed self that we must respect in man above all.
When men reject reason, they have no means left for dealing with one another — except brute, physical force.
The justice which would forgive miles of innocent errors of knowledge, would not forgive a single step taken in conscious evil.
Art is inextricably tied to man's survival - not to his physical survival, but to that on which his physical survival depends: to the preservation and survival of his consciousness.
Do not cry that it is our duty to serve you. We do not recognize such duty. Do not cry that you need us. We do not consider need a claim. Do not cry that you own us. You don’t.
To be free, a man must be free from his brothers. That is freedom. That and nothing else.
Racism negates two aspects of man's life: reason and choice, or mind and morality, replacing them with chemical predestination.
You are an unusual, brilliant child who has not seen enough of life to grasp the full measure of human stupidity.
You’re so beautiful, Dominique. Its such a lovely accident on God’s part that there’s one person who matches inside and out.
It takes two to make a very great career: the man who is great, and the man--almost rarer--who is great enough to see greatness and say so.
A rational man never distorts or corrupts his own standards...in order to appeal to the irrationality, dishonesty or stupidity of others.
A desire to choose the hardest might be a confession of weakness in itself.
Romantic love is the most selfish of all emotions.
...there’s nothing of any importance in life—except how well you do your work. Nothing. Only that. Whatever else you are, will come from that. It’s the only measure of human value.
There is no escape from justice, nothing can be unearned and unpaid for in the universe, neither in matter nor in spirit—and if the guilty do not pay, then the innocent have to pay it.
Happiness is self-contained and self-sufficient. Happy men have no time and no use for you. Happy men are free men.
...if ever you hear a man telling you that you must be happy, that it’s your natural right, that your first duty is to yourself—that will be the man who’s not after your soul.
No action could be lower or more futile than for one person to throw upon another the burden of his abdication of choice.
We alone, of the thousands who walk this earth, we alone in this hour are doing a work which has no purpose save that we wish to do it.
The power of the sky can be made to do men's bidding. There are no limits to its secrets and its might, and it can be made to grant us anything if we but choose to ask.
Men who reject the responsibility of thought and reason can only exist as parasites on the thinking of others.
I win by means of nothing but logic and I surrender to nothing but logic. I do not surrender my reason or deal with men who surrender theirs.
All that which proceeds from man’s independent ego is good. All that which proceeds from man’s dependence upon men is evil.
Great men can’t be ruled... The great is the rare, the difficult, the exceptional.
...there was no guilt in his face, no doubt, nothing but the calm of an inviolate self-confidence.
Why yes, I can, ' said Midas Mulligan, when he was asked whether he could name a person more evil than the man with a heart closed to pity. 'The man who uses another's pity for him as a weapon.
For this wire is as a part of our body, as a vein torn from us, glowing with our blood. Are we proud of this thread of metal, or of our hands which made it, or is there a line to divide these two?
We have lied to ourselves. We have not built this box for the good of our brothers. We built it for its own sake. It is above all our brothers to us, and its truth above their truth.
The artist is the closest man comes to being God.
The only thing that counts in life is solid, material assets. It's no time for theories when everything is falling to pieces around us.
This box is useless, " said Alliance 6-7349.Should it be what they claim of it, " said Harmony 9-2642, "then it would bring ruin to the Department of Candles.
I'm not asking you to do your best. I'm asking you to do your job." -Dagny Taggart
Let us throw away our candles and our torches. Let us flood the cities with light. Let us bring a new light to men! -Equality 7-2521
The pursuit of truth is not important. The pursuit of that truth is important which helps you in reaching your goal that is provided you have one.