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When It Is Established That Government By Right Can Take Wealth From Some And Give It To Others. When A Society Establishes Criminals-by-right And Looters-by-law, Men Will Use Force To Seize The Wealth Of Disarmed Victims. Such Looters Believe It Safe To Rob Defenseless Men, Once They Have Passed A Law To Disarm Them. But Their Loot Becomes The Magnet For Other Looters, Who Get It From Them As They Got It. Then The Race Goes, Not To The Ablest At Production, But To Those Most Ruthless At Brutality. When Force Is The Standard, The Murderer Wins Over The Pickpocket.

-Ayn Rand

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When It Is Established

Ayn Rand

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When It Is Established That Government By Right Can Take Wealth From Some And Give It To Others. When A Society Establishes Criminals-by-right And Looters-by-law, Men Will Use Force To Seize The Wealth Of Disarmed Victims. Such Looters Believe It Safe To Rob Defenseless Men, Once They Have Passed A Law To Disarm Them. But Their Loot Becomes The Magnet For Other Looters, Who Get It From Them As They Got It. Then The Race Goes, Not To The Ablest At Production, But To Those Most Ruthless At Brutality. When Force Is The Standard, The Murderer Wins Over The Pickpocket.

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We Are Born Into This World Unarmed - Our Mind Is Our Only Weapon.

Romantic Art Is The Fuel And The Spark Plug Of A Man's Soul. It's Task Is To Set A Soul On Fire And Never Let It Go Out.

The Man Who Produces While Others Dispose Of His Product Is A Slave.

Whenever Destroyers Appear Among Men, They Start By Destroying Money, For Money Is Men's Protection And The Base Of A Moral Existence. Destroyers Seize Gold And Leave To Its Owners A Counterfeit Pile Of Paper. This Kills All Objective Standards And Delivers Men Into The Arbitrary Power Of An Arbitrary Setter Of Values. Gold Was An Objective Value, An Equivalent Of Wealth Produced. Paper Is A Mortgage On Wealth That Does Not Exist, Backed By A Gun Aimed At Those Who Are Expected To Produce It.

The Art Of Writing Is The Art Of Doing What You Think You're Doing. This Is Not As Simple As It Sounds. It Implies A Very Difficult Undertaking: The Necessity To Think. And It Implies The Requirement To Think Out Three Separate, Very Hard Problems: What Is It You Want To Say? How Are You Going To Say It? Have You Really Said It?

Non-thinking Is An Act Of Annihilation, A Wish To Negate Existence, An Attempt To Wipe Out Reality. But Existence Exists; Reality Is Not To Be Wiped Out, It Will Merely Wipe Out The Wiper

The Doctrine That 'human Rights' Are Superior To 'property Rights' Simply Means That Some Human Beings Have The Right To Make Property Out Of Others.

I Can Say-not As A Patriotic Bromide, But With Full Knowledge Of The Necessary Metaphysical, Epistemological , Ethical, Political And Esthetic Roots-that The United States Of America Is The Greatest, The Noblest And, In Its Original Founding Principles, The Only Moral Country In The History Of The World.

When I Disagree With A Rational Man, I Let Reality Be Our Final Arbiter; If I Am Right, He Will Learn; If I Am Wrong, I Will; One Of Us Will Win, But Both Will Profit.

The Purpose Of The Law Is Not To Prevent A Future Offense, But To Punish The One Actually Committed.

It Was The Only Thing I Ever Really Wanted. And That’s The Sin That Can’t Be Forgiven--that I Hadn’t Done What I Wanted. It Feels So Dirty And Pointless And Monstrous, As One Feels About Insanity, Because There’s No Sense To It, No Dignity, Nothing But Pain--and Wasted Pain...why Do They Always Teach Us That It’s Easy And Evil To Do What We Want And That We Need Discipline To Restrain Ourselves? It’s The Hardest Thing In The World--to Do What We Want. And It Takes The Greatest Kind Of Courage.

A Conformist Is A Man Who Declares, "it's True Because Others Believe It" - But An Individualist Is Not A Man Who Declares, "it's True Because I Believe It." An Individual Declares, "i Believe It Because I See In Reason That It Is True.

Learn To Distinguish The Difference Between Errors Of Knowledge And Breaches Of Morality

Not Selfishness, But Precisely The Absence Of A Self. Look At Them. The Man Who Cheats And Lies, But Preserves A Respectable Front. He Knows Himself To Be Dishonest, But Others Think He’s Honest And He Derives His Self-respect From That, Second-hand. The Man Who Takes Credit For An Achievement Which Is Not His Own. He Knows Himself To Be Mediocre, But He’s Great In The Eyes Of Others.

I've Always Thought That A Feeling Which Changes Never Existed In The First Place.

I'm Not Brave Enough To Be A Coward; I See The Consequences Too Clearly.

We Can Evade Reality, But We Cannot Evade The Consequences Of Evading Reality

To Achieve, You Need Thought

Degrees Of Ability Vary, But The Basic Principle Remains The Same: The Degree Of A Man's Independence, Initiative And Personal Love For His Work Determines His Talent As A Worker And His Worth As A Man. Independence Is The Only Gauge Of Human Virtue And Value. What A Man Is And Makes Of Himself; Not What He Has Or Hasn't Done For Others. There Is No Substitute For Personal Dignity. There Is No Standard Of Personal Dignity Except Independence.

The Fight We Are In Here, Make No Mistake About It, Is A Fight Of Individualism Versus Collectivism.

Face A Challenge And Find Joy In The Capacity To Meet It.

Contrary To The Ecologists, Nature Does Not Stand Still And Does Not Maintain The Kind Of Equilibrium That Guarantees The Survival Of Any Particular Species - Least Of All The Survival Of Her Greatest And Most Fragile Product: Man.

The Cult Of Moral Grayness Is A Revolt Against Moral Values.

Altruism Does Not Mean Mere Kindness Or Generosity, But The Sacrifice Of The Best Among Men To The Worst, The Sacrifice Of Virtues To Flaws, Of Ability To Incompetence, Of Progress To Stagnation-and The Subordinating Of All Life And Of All Values To The Claims Of Anyone's Suffering.

Since Nature Does Not Endow All Men With Equal Beauty Or Equal Intelligence, And The Faculty Of Volition Leads Men To Make Different Choices, The Egalitarians Propose To Abolish The "unfairness" Of Nature And Of Volition, And To Establish Universal Equality In Fact - In Defiance Of Facts. It Is Not Equality Before The Law That They Seek, But Inequality: The Establishment Of An Inverted Social Pyramid, With A New Aristocracy On Top - The Aristocracy Of Non-value.

I Can Accept Anything, Except What Seems To Be The Easiest For Most People: The Half-way, The Almost, The Just-about, The In-between.

And Now I See The Face Of God, And I Raise This God Over The Earth, This God Whom Men Have Sought Since Men Came Into Being, This God Who Will Grant Them Joy And Peace And Pride. This God, This One Word: 'i.

The Age Of The Skyscraper Is Gone. This Is The Age Of The Housing Project. Which Is Always A Prelude To The Age Of The Cave.

Within The Extent Of Your Knowledge, You Are Right.

There Is No Hope For The World Unless And Until We Formulate, Accept And State Publicly A True Moral Code Of Individualism, Based On Man's Inalienable Right To Live For Himself. Neither To Hurt Nor To Serve His Brothers, But To Be Independent Of Them In His Function And In His Motive. Neither To Sacrifice Them For Himself Nor To Sacrifice Himself For Them.

Productiveness Is Your Acceptance Of Morality, Your Recognition Of The Fact That You Choose To Live.

Productive Work

Every Major Horror Of History Was Committed In The Name Of An Altruistic Motive. Has Any Act Of Selfishness Ever Equalled The Carnage Perpetrated By Disciples Of Altruism.

[s]tatism Is A System Of Institutionalized Violence And Perpetual Civil War. It Leaves Men No Choice But To Fight To Seize Political Power -- To Rob Or Be Robbed, To Kill Or Be Killed. ... Statism Survives By Looting; A Free Country Survives By Production.

There Is No Such Dichotomy As 'human Rights' Versus 'property Rights.' No Human Rights Can Exist Without Property Rights.

My Happiness Is Not The Means To Any End. It Is The End. It Is Its Own Goal. It Is Its Own Purpose.

If It Were True That Men Could Achieve Their Good By Means Of Turning Some Men Into Sacrificial Animals, And ... If I Were Asked To Serve The Interests Of Society Apart From, Above And Against My Own I Would Refuse... I Would Fight In The Full Confidence Of The Justice Of My Battle And Of A Living Being's Right To Exist.

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One Loses Everything When One Loses One's Sense Of Humor.

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She Started Off, Walking Fast, As If The Speed Of Her Steps Could Give Form To The Things She Felt.

If You Tell An Ugly Woman That She Is Beautiful, You Offer Her The Great Homage Of Corrupting The Concept Of Beauty.

Faith Is The Wors Curse Of Mankind, As The Exact Antithesis And Enemy Of Thought.

I Don't Want To See You. I Don't Like You. I Don't Like Your Face. You Look Like An Insufferable Egotist. You're Impertinent. You're Too Sure Of Yourself. Twenty Years Ago I Would Have Punched Your Face With The Greatest Of Pleasure.

I Could Die For You. But I Couldn't, And Wouldn't, Live For You.

I Am. I Think. I Will.

Do Not Open Your Mouth To Tell Me That Your Mind Has Convinced You Of Your Right To Force My Mind. Force And Mind Are Opposites. Morality Ends Where A Gun Begins.

Any Work Is Creative Work If Done By A Thinking Mind.

Productive Work

Sacrifice Does Not Mean The Rejection Of The Worthless, But Of The Precious

I Came Here To Say That I Do Not Recognize Anyone's Right To One Minute Of My Life. Nor To Any Part Of My Energy. Nor To Any Achievement Of Mine. No Matter Who Makes The Claim, How Large Their Number Or How Great Their Need. I Wished To Come Here And Say That I Am A Man Who Does Not Exist For Others." - Howard Roark

The Man Who Lets A Leader Prescribe His Course Is A Wreck Being Towed To The Scrap Heap.

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The Nation Which Once Held The Creed That Greatness Is Achieved By Production, Is Now Told That It Is Achieved By Squalor.

A Reader Has To Be Concerned Only With The End Result; Unless He Chooses To Analyze It, He Does Not Have To Know By What Means That Result Was Achieved-but It Is My Job To Know.

My Pride And My Power Of Vision Were All That I Owned When I Started - And Whatever I Achieved, Was Achieved By Means Of Them. Both Are Greater Now. Now I Have The Knowledge Of The Superlative Value I Had Missed: Of My Right To Be Proud Of My Vision. The Rest Is Mine To Reach.

Achieving Life Is Not The Equivalent Of Avoiding Death.

I Am Interested In Politics So That One Day I Will Not Have To Be Interested In Politics.

You Who Prattle That Morality Is Social And That Man Would Need No Morality On A Desert Island - It Is On A Desert Island That He Would Need It Most. Let Him Try To Claim, When There Are No Victims To Pay For It, That A Rock Is A House, That Sand Is Clothing, That Food Will Drop Into His Mouth Without Cause Or Effort, That He Will Collect A Harvest Tomorrow By Devouring His Stock Seed Today - And Reality Will Wipe Him Out, As He Deserves; Reality Will Show Him That Life Is A Value To Be Bought And That Thinking Is The Only Coin Noble Enough To Buy It.

A Building Has Integrity Just Like A Man. And Just As Seldom.

Who Was It That Said He Needed A Fulcrum? Give Me An Unobstructed Right-of-way And I'll Show Them How To Move The Earth!

No Concept Man Forms Is Valid Unless He Integrates It Without Contradiction Into The Sum Of His Knowledge.

Patience Is Always Rewarded And Romance Is Always Round The Corner!

Run For Your Life From Any Man Who Tells You That Money Is Evil. That Sentence Is The Leper's Bell Of An Approaching Looter.

A Culture Is Not The Anonymous Product Of Undifferentiate D Masses, But The Sum Of The Intellectual Achievements Of Individual Men.

The Creed Of Sacrifice Is A Morality For The Immoral.

People, He Thought, Were As Hungry For A Sight Of Joy As He Had Always Been--for A Moment's Relief From That Gray Load Of Suffering Which Seemed So Inexplicable And Unnecessary. He Had Never Been Able To Understand Why Men Should Be Unhappy.

Ah, There's Nothing Like Tea In The Afternoon. When The British Empire Collapses, Historians Will Find That It Had Made But Two Invaluable Contributions To Civilization - This Tea Ritual And The Detective Novel.

Let Us Destroy, But Don't Let Us Pretend That We Are Commiting An Act Of Virtue.

Money Is So Noble A Medium That It Does Not Compete With Guns And It Does Not Make Terms With Brutality. It Will Not Permit A Country To Survive As Half-property, Half-loot.

Since Only An Individual Man Can Possess Rights, The Expression "individual Rights"? Is A Redundancy (which One Has To Use For Purposes Of Clarification In Today's Intellectual Chaos). But The Expression "collective Rights"? Is A Contradiction In Terms.

But Their Eyes Were As Cold Blue Glass Buttons.

Now You See, Dr. Stadler, You're Speaking As If This Book Were Addressing To A Thinking Audience. If It Were, One Would Have To Be Concerned With Such Matters As Accuracy, Validity, Logic And The Prestige Of Science. But It Isn't. It's Addressed To The Public.

Congress Shall Make No Law Abridging The Freedom Of Production And Trade.

The Government Has Created A Nation Of Paper Criminals. People Can Be Put In Jail And Lose Civil Rights And Liberties Through Bureaucratic Procedures.the Only Thing That Is Keeping You Out Of Jail Is Government Goodwill.

Through The Dry Phases Of Calculations In Her Mind, She Noticed That She Did Have Time To Feel Something: It Was The Hard, Exhilarating Pleasure Of Action.

The Only Purpose Of Education Is To Teach A Student How To Live His Life-by Developing His Mind And Equipping Him To Deal With Reality. The Training He Needs Is Theoretical, I.e., Conceptual. He Has To Be Taught To Think, To Understand, To Integrate, To Prove. He Has To Be Taught The Essentials Of The Knowledge Discovered In The Past-and He Has To Be Equipped To Acquire Further Knowledge By His Own Effort.

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.

In Proportion To The Mental Energy He Spent, The Man Who Creates A New Invention Receives But A Small Percentage Of His Value In Terms Of Material Payment, No Matter What Fortune He Makes, No Matter What Millions He Earns. But The Man Who Works As A Janitor In The Factory Producing That Invention, Receives An Enormous Payment In Proportion To The Mental Effort That His Job Requires Of Him. And The Same Is True Of All Men Between, On All Levels Of Ambition And Ability.

Since Time Immemorial And Pre-industrial, 'greed' Has Been The Accusation Hurled At The Rich By The Concrete-bound Illiterates Who Were Unable To Conceive Of The Source Of Wealth Or Of The Motivation Of Those Who Produce It.

Do Not Let Your Fire Go Out, Spark By Irreplaceable Spark In The Hopeless Swamps Of The Not-quite, The Not-yet, And The Not-at-all. Do Not Let The Hero In Your Soul Perish In Lonely Frustration For The Life You Deserved And Have Never Been Able To Reach. The World You Desire Can Be Won. It Exists.. It Is Real.. It Is Possible.. It's Yours.

Never Think Of Pain Or Danger Or Enemies A Moment Longer Than Is Necessary To Fight Them.

If You Surrender Everything To The Government And Give It Total Power To Plan The Whole Economy, This Will Not Guarantee Your Economic Security, But It Will Guarantee The Descent Of The Entire Nation To A Level Of Miserable Poverty--as The Practical Results Of Every Totalitarian Economy, Communist Or Fascist, Have Demonstrated.

You Have Been The One Encounter In My Life That Can Never Be Repeated

Happiness Is A State Of Non-contradictory Joy . . . Happiness Is Possible Only To A Rational Man, The Man Who Desires Nothing But Rational Goals, Seeks Nothing But Rational Values, And Finds His Joy In Nothing But Rational Actions.

She Thought: At This Moment, The Glass Stem Between His Fingers Feels Just Like The One Between Mine. We Have This Much In Common.

An Individualist Is A Man Who Says: 'i Will Not Run Anyone's Life - Nor Let Anyone Run Mine. I Will Not Rule Or Be Ruled. I Will Not Be A Master Nor A Slave. I Will Not Sacrifice Myself To Anyone - Nor Sacrifice Anyone To Myself.'

Through All The Darkness, Through All The Shame Of Which Men Are Capable, The Spirit Of Man Will Remain Alive On This Earth. It May Sleep, But It Will Awaken. It May Wear Chains, But It Will Break Through.

We Didn't Really Have To Take Everything So Seriously, Did We?

Every Government Interference In The Economy Consists Of Giving An Unearned Benefit, Extorted By Force, To Some Men At The Expense Of Others.

If There Is Any One Proof Of A Man's Incompetence, It Is The Stagnant Mentality Of A Worker Who, Doing Some Small Routine Job In A Vast Undertaking, Does Not Care To Look Beyond The Lever Of A Machine, Does Not Choose To Know How The Machine Got There Or What Makes His Job Possible, And Proclaims That The Management Of The Undertaking Is Parasitical And Unnecessary.

A Good Novel Is An Indivisible Sum; Every Scene, Sequence And Passage Of A Good Novel Has To Involve, Contribute To And Advance All Three Of Its Major Attributes: Theme, Plot, Characterization.

The Difference Between [socialism And Fascism] Is Superficial And Purely Formal, But It Is Significant Psychologically: It Brings The Authoritarian Nature Of A Planned Economy Crudely Into The Open. The Main Characteristic Of Socialism (and Of Communism) Is Public Ownership Of The Means Of Production, And, Therefore, The Abolition Of Private Property. The Right To Property Is The Right Of Use And Disposal. Under Fascism, Men Retain The Semblance Or Pretense Of Private Property, But The Government Holds Total Power Over Its Use And Disposal.

You Don't Love Causes. You Don't Love Everybody Indiscriminately. You Love Only Those Who Deserve It.

It Only Stands To Reason That Where There's Sacrifice, There's Someone Collecting The Sacrificial Offerings. Where There's Service, There Is Someone Being Served. The Man Who Speaks To You Of Sacrifice Is Speaking Of Slaves And Masters, And Intends To Be The Master.

It Stands To Reason That If Sacrifices Are Being Given, Somebody Is Collecting Sacrifices.

An Honest Man Is One Who Knows That He Can't Consume More Than He Has Produced.

You Still Love Me - Even If There's One Expression Of It That You Will Always Feel And Want, But Will Not Give Me No Longer. I'm Still What I Was, And You'll Always See It, And You'll Always Grant Me The Same Response, Even If There's A Greater One That You Grant Another Man. No Matter What You Feel For Him, It Will Not Change What You Feel For Me, And It Won't Treason To Either, Because It Comes From The Same Root, It's The Same Payment In Answer To The Same Values.

Your Emotional Capacity Is An Empty Motor, And Your Values Are The Fuel With Which Your Mind Fills It. If You Choose A Mix Of Contradictions, It Will Clog Your Motor, Corrode Your Transmission And Wreck You On Your First Attempt To Move With A Machine Which You, The Driver, Have Corrupted.

Faith And Force ... Are Corollaries: Every Period Of History Dominated By Mysticism, Was A Period Of Statism, Of Dictatorship, Of Tyranny.

Let Me Give You A Tip On A Clue To Men's Characters: The Man Who Damns Money Has Obtained It Dishonorably; The Man Who Respects It Has Earned It.

Economics Departments Are Dominated By Marxism, Which Is Taken Straight Or On The Rocks, In The Form Of Keynesianism.

There Are No White Lies, There Is Only The Blackest Of Destruction, And A White Lie Is The Blackest Of All.

It Was The Greatest Sensation Of Existence: Not To Trust But To Know.

Indiscriminate Tolerance And Indiscriminate Condemnation Are Not Two Opposites: They Are Two Variants Of The Same Evasion.

No Speech Is Ever Considered, But Only The Speaker. It's So Much Easier To Pass Judgement On A Man Than On An Idea.

A Quest For Self-respect Is Proof Of Its Lack

Namely, If I Am Challenging The Base Of All These Institutions, I'm Challenging The Moral Code Of Altruism. The Precept That Man's Moral Duty Is To Live For Others. That Man Must Sacrifice Himself To Others. Which Is The Present Day Morality.

If Capitalism Had Never Existed, Any Honest Humanitarian Should Have Been Struggling To Invent It. But When You See Men Struggling To Evade Its Existence, To Misrepresent Its Nature, And To Destroy Its Last Remnants - You Maybe Sure That Whatever Their Motives, Love Of Man Is Not One Of Them.

That's A Cute Sentence: The Years To Come. Why Are You So Sure They're Coming?

If You Want To Know The One Reason That's Taking Me Back, I'll Tell You: I Cannot Bring Myself To Abandon To Destruction All The Greatness Of The World, All That Which Was Mine And Yours, Which Was Made By Us And Is Still Ours By Right - Because I Cannot Believe That Men Refuse To See, That They Can Remain Blind And Deaf To Us Forever, When The Truth Is Ours And Their Lives Depend On Accepting It.

Thanksgiving Is A Typically American Holiday...the Lavish Meal Is A Symbol Of The Fact That Abundant Consumption Is The Result And Reward Of Production.

I Came Here To Say That I Do Not Recognize Anyone's Right To One Minute Of My Life.

Never Ask People About Your Work.

There’s Nothing As Significant As A Human Face. Nor As Eloquent. We Can Never Really Know Another Person, Except By Our First Glance At Him. Because, In That Glance, We Know Everything. Even Though We’re Not Always Wise Enough To Unravel The Knowledge.

The Right To Life Means That A Man Has The Right To Support His Life By His Own Work (on Any Economic Level, As High As His Ability Will Carry Him); It Does Not Mean That Others Must Provide Him With The Necessities Of Life.

To Demand 'sense' Is The Hallmark Of Nonsense. Nature Does Not Make Sense. Nothing Makes Sense.

The Difference Between Animals And Humans Is That Animals Change Themselves For The Environment, But Humans Change The Environment For Themselves.

The More Neurotic And Evasive A Person Is, The Shorter The Range Of His Interests.

She Did Not Know The Nature Of Her Loneliness. The Only Words That Named It Were: This Is Not The World I Expected.

The Only Thing That Matters My Goal My Reward My Beginning My End Is The Work Itself. My Work Done My Way. A Private Personal Selfish Egotistical Motivation. That’s The Only Way I Function. That’s All I Am.

To Hold An Unchanging Youth Is To Reach At The End, The Vision With Which One Started.

I Saw That Evil Was Impotent—that Evil Was The Irrational, The Blind, The Anti-real—and That The Only Weapon Of Its Triumph Was The Willingness Of The Good To Serve It.

But Why Should You Care What People Will Say? All You Have To Do Is Please Yourself.

There Are Two Sides To Every Issue: One Side Is Right And The Other Is Wrong, But The Middle Is Always Evil.

In The Temple Of His Spirit, Each Man Is Alone.

A Rational Man Never Distorts Or Corrupts His Own Standards And Judgment In Order To Appeal To The Irrationality, Stupidity, Or Dishonesty Of Others.

Man Holds These Rights [life, Liberty And Property], Not From The Collective Nor For The Collective, But Against The Collective - As A Barrier Which The Collective Cannot Cross... These Rights Are Man's Protection Against All Other Men.

The Best, Most Natural Dialogue Is Usually Written As If The Writer Is Listening To Dictation. You Might Get Stuck On Any Particular Point And Have To Question Yourself; But Normally, Dialogue Writes Itself.

Married People Dont Look Like They Have Bedrooms On Their Minds When They Look At Each Other. In This World, Either You're Virtuous Or You Enjoy Yourself. Not Both...not Both.

You Seek Escape From Pain. We Seek The Achievement Of Happiness. You Exist For The Sake Of Avoiding Punishment. We Exist For The Sake Of Earning Rewards. Threats Will Not Make Us Function; Fear Is Not Our Incentive. It Is Not Death That We Wish To Avoid, But Life That We Wish To Live

Compromise Does Not Satisfy, But Dissatisfies Everybody; It Does Not Lead To Any General Fulfillment, But To General Frustration; Those Who Try To Become Everything To All People End Up By Not Being Anything To Anyone.

The Evil Of The World Is Made Possible By Nothing But The Sanction You Give It.

Because, You See, God - Whatever Anyone Chooses To Call God - Is One's Highest Conception Of The Highest Possible. And Whoever Places His Highest Conception Above His Own Possibility Thinks Very Little Of Himself And His Life. It's A Rare Gift, You Know, To Feel Reverence For Your Own Life And To Want The Best, The Greatest, The Highest Possible, Here, Now, For Your Very Own. To Imagine A Heaven And Then Not To Dream Of It, But To Demand It.

A Society That Robs An Individual Of The Product Of His Effort, Or Enslaves Him, Or Attempts To Limit The Freedom Of His Mind, Or Compels Him To Act Against His Own Rational Judgment-a Society That Sets Up A Conflict Between Its Edicts And The Requirements Of Man’s Nature—is Not, Strictly Speaking, A Society, But A Mob Held Together By Institutionalized Gang-rule.

If A Man Wants Love He Should Correct His Weaknesses, Or His Flaws, And He May Deserve It. But He Cannot Expect The Unearned, Either In Love Or In Money; Either In Matter Or In Spirit.

Without Property Rights, No Other Rights Are Possible.

Property Rights

It Was Beautiful And Rare, And You Have Every Right To Despise Me." She Stood Pressed To The Wall, Not Moving. "when You Came In, I Thought 'send Her Away.' But I Knew That If You Went Away, I'd Run After You. I Thought 'i Won't Say A Word.' But I Knew That You'd Know It Before You Left. I Love You. I Know You'd Think Kindlier Of Me If I Said That I Hate You.

Men Prosper Or Fail, Survive Or Perish In Proportion To The Degree Of Their Rationality.

You Don't Have To See Through The Eyes Of Others, Hold Onto Yours, Stand On Your Own Judgment, You Know That What Is, Is–say It Aloud, Like The Holiest Of Prayers, And Don't Let Anyone Tell You Otherwise.

You'll Come Back, Because Yours Is An Error Of Knowledge, Not A Moral Failure, Not An Act Of Surrender To Evil, But Only The Last Act Of Being Victim To Your Own Virtue. We'll Wait For You And When You Come Back, You Will Have Discovered That There Need Never Be Any Conflict Among Your Desires, Nor So Tragic A Clash Of Values As The One You've Borne So Well.

Get The Hell Out Of My Way!

If You Tell An Amateur That His Story Is Not Good, He Always Declares Indignantly: 'oh, But It Really Happened Just Like This!' The Writer Who Doesn't Understand That This Is Beside The Point Is Not A Writer At All.

All Life Is A Purposeful Struggle, And Your Only Choice Is The Choice Of A Goal.

Men Have Been Taught That Their First Concern Is To Relieve The Suffering Of Others. ... To Make That The Highest Test Of Virtue Is To Make Suffering The Most Important Part Of Life. Then Man Must Wish To See Others Suffer In Order That He May Be Virtuous. Such Is The Nature Of Altruism.

Suffering Of Others

I Got The Idea [for Anthem's Theme] In My School Days, In Soviet Russia, When I Heard All The Vicious Attacks On Individualism, And Asked Myself What The World Would Be Like If Men Lost The Word 'i.'

I Don't Like People Who Speak Or Think In Terms Of Gaining Anybody's Confidence. If One's Actions Are Honest, One Does Not Need The Predated Confidence Of Others, Only Their Rational Perception. The Person Who Craves A Moral Blank Check Of That Kind, Has Dishonest Intentions, Whether He Admits It To Himself Or Not.

The Man Without A Purpose Is A Man Who Drifts At The Mercy Of Random Feelings Or Unidentified Urges And Is Capable Of Any Evil, Because He Is Totally Out Of Control Of His Own Life. In Order To Be In Control Of Your Life, You Have To Have A Purpose-a Productive Purpose.

There Is Only One Institution That Can Arrogate To Itself The Power Legally To Trade By Means Of Rubber Checks: The Government. And It Is The Only Institution That Can Mortgage Your Future Without Your Knowledge Or Consent: Government Securities (and Paper Money) Are Promissory Notes On Future Tax Receipts, I.e., On Your Future Production.

Every Man Is Free To Rise As Far As He's Able Or Willing, But The Degree To Which He Thinks Determines The Degree To Which He'll Rise.

Positive Thinking

The Good, Say The Mystics Of Spirit, Is God, A Being Whose Only Definition Is That He Is Beyond Man's Power To Conceive — A Definition That Invalidates Man's Consciousness And Nullifies His Concepts Of Existence. The Good, Say The Mystics Of Muscle, Is Society — A Thing Which They Define As An Organism That Possesses No Physical Form, A Super-being Embodied In No One In Particular And Everyone In General Except Yourself.... The Purpose Of Man's Life, Say Both, Is To Become An Abject Zombie Who Serves A Purpose He Does Not Know, For Reasons He Is Not To Question.

You Have Chosen To Risk Your Lives For The Defense Of This Country. I Will Not Insult You By Saying That You Are Dedicated To Selfless Service--it Is Not A Virtue In My Morality. In My Morality, The Defense Of One's Country Means That A Man Is Personally Unwilling To Live As The Conquered Slave Of Any Enemy, Foreign Or Domestic. This Is An Enormous Virtue.

Art Is A Selective Re-creation Of Reality According To An Artists Metaphysical Value Judgments.

There Is A Level Of Cowardice Lower Than That Of The Conformist: The Fashionable Non-conformist.

The Word Which Can Never Die On This Earth, For It Is The Heart Of It And The Meaning And The Glory. The Sacred Word: Ego.

Every Coercive Monopoly Was Created By Government Intervention Into The Economy: By Special Privileges, Such As Franchises Or Subsidies, Which Closed The Entry Of Competitors Into A Given Field, By Legislative Action.

Capitalism Demands The Best Of Every Man - His Rationality - And Rewards Him Accordingly. It Leaves Every Man Free To Choose The Work He Likes, To Specialize In It, To Trade His Product For The Products Of Others, And To Go As Far On The Road Of Achievement As His Ability And Ambition Will Carry Him.

Through All The Centuries Of The Worship Of The Mindless, Whatever Stagnation Humanity Chose To Endure, Whatever Brutality To Practice-it Was Only By The Grace Of The Men Who Perceived That Wheat Must Have Water In Order To Grow, That Stones Laid In A Curve Will Form An Arch, That Two And Two Make Four, That Love Is Not Served By Torture And Life Is Not Fed By Destruction-only By The Grace Of Those Men Did The Rest Of Them Learn To Experience Moments When They Caught The Spark Of Being Human.

There Can Be No Compromise On Basic Principles. There Can Be No Compromise On Moral Issues. There Can Be No Compromise On Matters Of Knowledge, Of Truth, Of Rational Conviction.

Every Aspect Of Western Culture Needs A New Code Of Ethics - A Rational Ethics - As A Precondition Of Rebirth.

Western Culture

To Love Is To Value. Only A Rationally Selfish Man, A Man Of Self Esteem, Is Capable Of Love - Because He Is The Only Man Capable Of Holding Firm, Consistent, Uncompromising, Unbetrayed Value. The Man Who Does Not Value Himself, Cannot Value Anything Or Anyone

Roark Smiled, "gail, If This Boat Were Sinking, I'd Give My Life To Save You. Not Because It's Any Kind Of Duty. Only Because I Like You, For Reasons And Standards Of My Own. I Could Die For You. But I Couldn't And Wouldn't Live For You.

Don't Rely On Our Knowledge Of What's Best For Your Future. We Do Know, But It Can't Be Best Until You Know It.

Any Refusal To Recognize Reality, For Any Reason Whatever, Has Disastrous Consequences. There Are No Evil Thoughts Except One: The Refusal To Think. Don't Ignore Your Own Desires.... Don't Sacrifice Them. Examine Their Cause. There Is A Limit To How Much You Should Have To Bear.

You'll Get Everything Society Can Give A Man. You'll Keep All The Money. You'll Take Any Fame Or Honor Anyone Might Want To Grant. You'll Accept Such Gratitude As The Tenants Might Feel. And I - I'll Take What Nobody Can Give A Man, Except Himself. I Will Have Built Cortlandt. - Howard Roark

I Think It's Funny. There Was A Time When Men Were Afraid That Somebody Would Reveal Some Secret Of Theirs That Was Unknown To Their Fellows. Nowadays, They're Afraid That Somebody Will Name What Everybody Knows. Have You Practical People Ever Thought That That's All It Would Take To Blast Your Whole, Big, Complex Structure, With All Your Laws And Guns - Just Somebody Naming The Exact Nature Of What You're Doing?

For Centuries, The Battle Of Morality Was Fought Between Those Who Claimed That Your Life Belongs To God And Those Who Claimed That It Belongs To Your Neighbors - Between Those Who Preached That The Good Is Self-sacrifice For The Sake Of Ghosts In Heaven And Those Who Preached That The Good Is Self-sacrifice For The Sake Of Incompetents On Earth. And No One Came To Say That Your Life Belongs To You And That The Good Is To Live It.

The Only Proper Purpose Of A Government Is To Protect Man's Rights, Which Means: To Protect Him From Physical Violence.

Don't Ever Get Angry At A Man For Stating The Truth.

If A Drought Strikes Them, Animals Perish--man Builds Irrigation Canals; If A Flood Strikes Them, Animals Perish--man Builds Dams; If A Carnivorous Pack Attacks Them, Animals Perish--man Writes The Constitution Of The United States.

Every Loneliness Is A Pinnacle

To Arrive At A Contradiction Is To Confess An Error In One's Thinking; To Maintain A Contradiction Is To Abdicate One's Mind And To Evict Oneself From The Realm Of Reality.

I Am Only Concerned With Politics So I May See The Day When I Don't Have To Be Concerned With Politics.

You Have No Choice About Your Capacity To Feel That Something Is Good For You Or Evil, But What You Will Consider Good Or Evil, What Will Give You Joy Or Pain, What You Will Love Or Hate, Desire Or Fear, Depends On Your Standard Of Value.

It's The Person Who Would Sell His Soul For A Nickel, Who Is Loudest In Proclaiming His Hatred Of Money.

In This World, Either You're Virtuous Or You Enjoy Yourself. Not Both, Lady, Not Both.

It Is My Eyes Which See, And The Sight Of My Eyes Grants Beauty To The Earth. It Is My Ears Which Hear, And The Hearing Of My Ears Gives Its Song To The World. It Is My Mind Which Thinks, And The Judgement Of My Mind Is The Only Searchlight That Can Find The Truth. It Is My Will Which Chooses, And The Choice Of My Will Is The Only Edict I Must Respect.

The Man Who Refuses To Judge, Who Neither Agrees Nor Disagrees, Who Declares That There Are No Absolutes And Believes That He Escapes Responsibility, Is The Man Responsible For All The Blood That Is Now Spilled In The World

A Viler Evil Than To Murder A Man, Is To Sell Him Suicide As An Act Of Virtue.

I Love You, Dominique. As Selfishly As The Fact That I Exist. As Selfishly As My Lungs Breathe Air. I Breathe For My Own Necessity, For The Fuel Of My Body, For My Survival. I've Given You, Not My Sacrifice Or My Pity, But My Ego And My Naked Need. This Is The Only Way I Can Want You To Love Me.

The Pressure Disappeared With The First Word He Put On Paper. He Thought--while His Hand Moved Rapidly--what A Power There Was In Words; Later, For Those Who Heard Them, But First For The One Who Found Them; A Healing Power, A Solution, Like The Breaking Of A Barrier. He Thought, Perhaps The Basic Secret The Scientists Have Not Discovered, The First Fount Of Life, Is That Which Happens When A Thought Takes Shape In Words.

Just As There Is No Such Thing As A Collective Or Racial Mind, So There Is No Such Thing As A Collective Or Racial Achievement. There Are Only Individual Minds And Individual Achievements-an D A Culture Is Not The Anonymous Product Of Undifferentiate D Masses, But The Sum Of The Intellectual Achievements Of Individual Men.

Capitalism Was The Only System In History Where Wealth Was Not Acquired By Looting, But By Production, Not By Force, But By Trade, The Only System That Stood For Man's Right To His Own Mind, To His Work, To His Life, To His Happiness, To Himself.

I Will Not Die, It's The World That Will End." Paraphrase Of Unknown Philosopher

There Is Only One Source Of Authentic Self-confidence: Reason.

Self Confidence

Only A Man Of Integrity Can Possess The Virtue Of Honesty, Since Only The Faking Of One’s Consciousness Can Permit The Faking Of Existence.

What Whip Lashed Them To Their Knees In Shame And Submission? The Worship Of The Word "we.

The Government Was Set To Protect Man From Criminals, And The Constitution Was Written To Protect Man From The Government.

Libertarian Party

I Do Not Think That Tragedy Is Our Natural Fate And I Do Not Live In Chronic Dread Of Disaster. It Is No Happiness, But Suffering That I Consider Unnatural. It Is Not Success, But Calamity That I Regard As The Abnormal Exception In Human Life.

The First Society In History Whose Leaders Were Neither Attilas Nor Witch Doctors, A Society Led, Dominated And Created By The Producers, Was The United States Of America.

If I Were To Speak Your Kind Of Language, I Would Say That Man's Only Moral Commandment Is: Thou Shalt Think. But A 'moral Commandment' Is A Contradiction In Terms. The Moral Is The Chosen, Not The Forced; The Understood, Not The Obeyed. The Moral Is The Rational, And Reason Accepts No Commandments.

A Leash Is A Rope With A Noose At Both Ends.

Since A Rational Man's Ambition Is Unlimited, Since His Pursuit And Achievement Of Values Is A Life-long Process — And The Higher The Values, The Harder The Struggle — He Needs A Moment, An Hour Or Some Period Of Time In Which He Can Experience The Sense Of His Completed Task, The Sense Of Living In A Universe Where His Values Have Been Successfully Achieved.

The Only Proper Purpose Of A Government Is To Protect Man's Rights, Which Means: To Protect Him From Physical Violence. A Proper Government Is Only A Policeman, Acting As An Agent Of Man's Self-defense, And, As Such, May Only Resort To Force Only Against Those Who Start The Use Of Force.

The Men Who Are Not Interested In Philosophy Need It Most Urgently; They Are Most Helplessly In Its Power.

The Writer Who Develops A Beautiful Style, But Has Nothing To Say, Represents A Kind Of Arrested Esthetic Development; He Is Like A Pianist Who Acquires A Brilliant Technique By Playing Finger-exercises, But Never Gives A Concert.

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