Ayn Rand
Civilization is the progress toward a society of privacy. The savage's whole existence is public, ruled by the laws of his tribe. Civilization is the process of setting man free from men.
Ayn RandUpper classes are a nation's past; the middle class is its future.
Ayn RandThe man who lets a leader prescribe his course is a wreck being towed to the scrap heap.
Ayn RandThe ladder of success is best climbed by stepping on the rungs of opportunity.
Ayn RandWhy 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. I mean, what we really want.
Ayn RandFrom the smallest necessity to the highest religious abstraction, from the wheel to the skyscraper, everything we are and everything we have comes from one attribute of man - the function of his reasoning mind.
Ayn RandTo say "I love you" one must first be able to say the "I."
Ayn RandLearn to value yourself, which means: to fight for your happiness.
Ayn RandForce and mind are opposites; morality ends where a gun begins.
Ayn RandThe spread of evil is the symptom of a vacuum. whenever evil wins, it is only by default: by the moral failure of those who evade the fact that there can be no compromise on basic principles.
Ayn RandIntegrity is the recognition of the fact that you cannot fake your consciousness, just as honesty is the recognition of the fact that you cannot fake existence.
Ayn RandIt 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.
Ayn RandWhen I die, I hope to go to Heaven, whatever the Hell that is.
Ayn RandIf men want to oppose war, it is *statism* that they must oppose.
Ayn RandEvery aspect of Western culture needs a new code of ethics - a rational ethics - as a precondition of rebirth.
Ayn RandHappiness 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 buy rational actions.
Ayn RandMy philosophy, in essence, is the concept of man as a heroic being, with his own happiness as the moral purpose of his life, with productive achievement as his noblest activity, and reason as his only absolute.
Ayn RandThe worst guilt is to accept an unearned guilt.
Ayn RandAchievement 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.
Ayn RandA private individual may do anything except that which is legally forbidden; A government individual may do nothing except that which is legally permitted.
Ayn RandAsk yourself whether the dream of heaven and greatness should be waiting for us in our graves - or whether it should be ours here and now and on this earth.
Ayn RandThe right to life is the source of all rights--and the right to property is their only implementation. Without property rights, no other rights are possible. Since man has to sustain his life by his own effort, the man who has no right to the product of his effort has no means to sustain his life. The man who produces while others dispose of his product, is a slave.
Ayn RandThe purpose of morality is to teach you, not to suffer and die, but to enjoy yourself and live.
Ayn RandArt is a selective re-creation of reality according to an artist's metaphysical value judgments.
Ayn RandA building has integrity just like a man. And just as seldom.
Ayn Rand