Ayn Rand was born on February 2, 1905, in St. Petersburg in the Russian Empire. Alisa Zinovyevna Rosenbaum was her real name. Ayn Rand was her pen name. She was a Russian American writer. She was the eldest of three daughters of Zinovy Zakharovich Rosenbaum and Anna Borisovna. She studied at Petrograd State University, which was a diploma in history in 1924. She moved to the United States in 1926.
At the age of 16, she began her studies in the department of social pedagogy, with a major in history. At the university, she was introduced to the writings of Aristotle and Plato, who would be her greatest influence.
They left a deep, indelible impact on her and her writings. She held the Citizenship of the following -
1.Russian Empire (1905–1917)
2.Russian Republic (1917)
3.Russian SFSR (1917–1922)
4.Soviet Union (1922–1931)
5.United States (1931–1982)
Notable works by Ayn Rand are -
1.The Fountainhead
2.Atlas Shrugged
Some of the notable awards won by her are Prometheus Award Hall of Fame inductee in 1987 (for Anthem) and co-inaugural inductee in 1983 (for Atlas Shrugged).
In 1929 she married Frank O'Connor. The Fountainhead, a romantic and philosophical novel that she wrote over seven years, was her major success in her career. Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged became an international bestseller. The list given below is the writings of Ayn Rand -
Novels:
1.1936 We the Living
2.1943 The Fountainhead
3.1957 Atlas Shrugged
Other fiction:
1.1934 Night of January 16
2.1938 Anthem
3.2015 Ideal
Non-fiction:
1.1961 For the New Intellectual
2.1964 The Virtue of Selfishness
3.1966 Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal
4.1969 The Romantic Manifesto
4.1971 The New Left: The Anti-Industrial Revolution
5.1979 Introduction to Objectivist Epistemology
6.1982 Philosophy: Who Needs It
Ayn Rand died on March 6, 1982, at the age of 77 in New York City. She was laid to rest in Kensico Cemetery in the United States. Below is a list of famous Ayn Rand Quotes.
The smallest minority on earth is the individual. Those who deny individual rights cannot claim to be defenders of minorities.
Ayn Rand hat humans are the smallest minority on the earth. Those who deny individual rights cannot be the defenders of minorities. A human being has the basic right of being free and expressing his views and opinion on a particular subject. Those who suppress such voices cannot be the defenders of minority groups.
There are two sides to every issue: one side is right and the other is wrong, but the middle is always evil.
She says that to every problem, there are two sides. One is the right side, while the other is the wrong side. But the most difficult one is the middle part, which is considered evil because it is very difficult to follow.
Wealth is the product of man's capacity to think.
Ayn Rand stresses the capability of a human being. She expresses by saying that wealth can be earned concerning the capacity to think. If a person has higher thinking, then he will surely earn a huge amount of money in his life.
Happiness is that state of consciousness that proceeds from the achievement of one's values.
Ayn Rand says that happiness is directly proportional to our actions. Happiness is a state of consciousness that comes when we achieve what we want in our life. If we achieve what we want in our life, then we will be happy in the end.
The worst guilt is to accept unearned guilt.
Guilt is a very bad thing full stop the worst guilt can be experienced when a person has nothing to do with it. The worst guilt can be described as the unearned guilt in which a person does not have to exercise anything.
The hardest thing to explain is glaringly evident which everybody had decided not to see.
Ayn Rand expresses a strong desire regarding reality. She says that it is very difficult for people to accept reality. It is very hard to accept. The most glaring thing in life is that nobody is ready to accept what is true.
There is a level of cowardice lower than that of the conformist: the fashionable non-conformist.
People are filled with guilt and doubt. There is a level of cover that dies mostly in all people. Some may be conformists while some may be fashionable ones, but the fact is that everybody is filled with some amount of cowardice in his heart.
Continue reading some more Ayn Rand Quotes...
To say 'I love you' one must first be able to say the 'I.'
To be loved by someone requires the attitude of being loved first. If we want to express our love towards someone, then we must have the capability to take the first step.
The only power any government has is the power to crack down on criminals. Well, when there aren't enough criminals, one makes them. One declares so many things to be a crime that it becomes impossible for men to live without breaking laws.
The government of any country can help create criminals. The government has the core responsibility of maintaining law and order in the country. One has to be very vigilant and must avoid the laws enshrined in his country's constitution. Hence the laws must never be broken because if it is done so then, the government has full power to do what it wants.
I swear, by my life and my love of it, that I will never live for the sake of another man, nor ask another man to live for mine.
Ayn Rand was a very kind woman. She was gentle and kind would never live for the sake of another, but it would give him full opportunity to express his desire regarding her. Also, she does not pressurize the other individual to express his love for her.
The ladder of success is best climbed by stepping on the rungs of opportunity.
She explains the importance of opportunity in the life of people. The ladder of success can be climbed only by stepping on the rungs of opportunity. She wants to say that by only taking full advantage of the opportunity we can climb the ladder of success and achieve what we want.
The truth is not for all men, but only for those who seek it.
Truth is not sought by everyone. It comes to those people who want to work on it and have a deep desire to seek it.
Money is only a tool. It will take you wherever you wish, but it will not replace you as the driver.
She says that money is only a tool. It can be used to go wherever one wants, but it cannot replace the person who is earning money. Money can only fulfil the desire but cannot replace everything in life.
Contradictions do not exist. Whenever you think you are facing a contradiction, check your premises. You will find that one of them is wrong.
Ayn Rand wants to say that contradictions do not exist, but if a person faces contradiction, he must check his premises. Maybe one of them can be wrong, due to which a contradiction is arising.
Reason is not automatic. Those who deny it cannot be conquered by it. Do not count on them. Leave them alone.
Ayn Rand expresses her desire to not focus on the reason unnecessarily. The Reason is not automatic. Those who deny it will never conquer it. There is only one way, and that is to avoid it and leave it alone and do not worry much about it.
A creative man is motivated by the desire to achieve, not by the desire to beat others.
A creative person will always be motivated by the desire to achieve his goal. he will not have the desire to beat others. Because he is competing with himself and we'll try hard to achieve what he wants in his life.
Few more Ayn Rand Quotes....
The question isn't who is going to let me; it's who is going to stop me.
Ayn Rand was a very optimistic lady. She says that she has a great passion for writing and wants to work on it. She stresses the fact that she is going to write great novels and stories throughout her life. And it is very difficult to stop her from doing so.
Individual rights are not subject to a public vote; a majority has no right to vote away the rights of a minority; the political function of rights is precisely to protect minorities from oppression by majorities (and the smallest minority on earth is the individual).
She expresses her views on the topic of individual rights. According to her majority, people do not have the right to vote because they are suppressed due to one factor or the other. In reality, we are bound by the limitations which surround us and cannot exercise is full right over a particular thing.
We are fast approaching the stage of the ultimate inversion: the stage where the government is free to do anything it pleases, while the citizens may act only by permission; which is the stage of the darkest periods of human history, the stage of rule by brute force.
She says that we, the people, are fast approaching the stage of ultimate inversion. The stage has arrived where the government will be free to do whatever it wants. It may give its citizens permission to do what it wants. That day would be the darkest period of human history where there would be the rule of brute force on the people.
Achievement of your happiness is the only moral purpose of your life, and that happiness, not pain or mindless self-indulgence, is the proof of your moral integrity since it is the proof and the result of your loyalty to the achievement of your values.
The human mind can perceive what it wants in life. Achievement of happiness is the moral purpose of every human being, and mindless self-indulgence is not what a human mind desires, but it desires loyalty to the achievement of values.
