Ayn Rand

“My 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 Rand

“The world you desire can be won, it exists, it is real, it is possible, it is yours​.” ~ Ayn Rand

“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

“Men prosper or fail, survive or perish in proportion to the degree of their rationality​.” ~ Ayn Rand

“The uncontested absurdities of today are the accepted slogans of tomorrow​.” ~ Ayn Rand

“You can avoid reality, but you cannot avoid the consequences of avoiding reality​.” ~ Ayn Rand

“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​.” ~ Ayn Rand

“When you see corruption being rewarded and honesty becoming a self-sacrifice, you may know that your society is doomed​.” ~ Ayn Rand

“There are two sides to every issue: one side is right and the other is wrong, but the middle is always evil​.” ~ Ayn Rand

“Capitalism and altruism are incompatible; they are philosophical opposites; they cannot co-exist in the same man or in the same society​.” ~ Ayn Rand

“All the evils, abuses, and iniquities, popularly ascribed to businessmen and to capitalism, were not caused by an unregulated economy or by a free market, but by government intervention into the economy​.” ~ Ayn Rand

“If you don’t know, the thing to do is not to get scared, but to learn​.” ~ Ayn Rand

“A man’s ego is the fountainhead of human progress​.” ~ Ayn Rand

“You love people, not for what you do for them or what they do for you. You love them for their values; their virtues​.” ~ Ayn Rand

“It’s not that I don’t suffer, it’s that I know the unimportance of suffering. I know that pain is to be fought and thrown aside, not to be accepted as part of one’s soul and as a permanent scar across one’s view of existence​.” ~ Ayn Rand

“The difference between animals and humans is that animals change themselves for the environment, but humans change the environment for themselves​.” ~ Ayn Rand

“Rationality is the recognition of the fact that nothing can alter the truth and nothing can take precedence over that act of perceiving it​.” ~ Ayn Rand

“An inventor is a man who asks ‘Why?’ of the universe and lets nothing stand between the answer and his mind​.” ~ Ayn Rand

“Freedom: To ask nothing. To expect nothing. To depend on nothing​.” ~ Ayn Rand

“I’m not brave enough to be a coward; I see the consequences too clearly​.” ~ Ayn Rand

“She did not know the nature of her loneliness. The only words that named it were: This is not the world I expected​.” ~ Ayn Rand

“A man who seeks escape from the responsibility of supporting his life by his own thought and effort, and wishes to survive by conquering, ruling and exploiting others, is NOT an Individualist​.” ~ Ayn Rand

“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​.” ~ Ayn Rand

“Never think of pain or danger or enemies a moment longer than is necessary to fight them​.” ~ Ayn Rand

“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​.” ~ Ayn Rand

“Throughout the centuries there were men who took first steps, down new roads, armed with nothing but their own vision​.” ~ Ayn Rand

“If you tell an ugly woman that she is beautiful, you offer her the great homage of corrupting the concept of beauty​.” ~ Ayn Rand

“Anyone who fights for the future, lives in it today​.” ~ Ayn Rand

“There is no such dichotomy as ‘human rights’ versus ‘property rights.’ No human rights can exist without property rights​.” ~ Ayn Rand

“If it’s worth doing, it’s worth overdoing​.” ~ Ayn Rand

“A government is the most dangerous threat to man’s rights: it holds a legal monopoly on the use of physical force against legally disarmed victims​.” ~ Ayn Rand

“The question isn’t who is going to let me; it’s who is going to stop me​.” ~ Ayn Rand

“What greater wealth is there than to own your life and to spend it on growing? Every living thing must grow. It can’t stand still. It must grow or perish​.” ~ Ayn Rand

“There is no difference between communism and socialism, except in the means of achieving the same ultimate end: communism proposes to enslave men by force, socialism – by vote. It is merely the difference between murder and suicide​.” ~ Ayn Rand

“The men who are not interested in philosophy need it most urgently; they are most helplessly in its power​.” ~ Ayn Rand

“The smallest minority on earth is the individual. Those who deny individual rights cannot claim to be defenders of minorities​.” ~ Ayn Rand

“I owe nothing to my brothers, nor do I gather debts from them. I ask none to live for me, nor do I live for any others. I covet no man’s soul, nor is my soul theirs to covet​.” ~ Ayn Rand

“Civilization is the process of setting man free from men​.” ~ Ayn Rand

“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​.” ~ Ayn Rand

“From 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 Rand

“Words are a lens to focus one’s mind​.” ~ Ayn Rand

“Money demands that you sell, not your weakness to men’s stupidity, but your talent to their reason​.” ~ Ayn Rand

“Learn to value yourself, which means: fight for your happiness​.” ~ Ayn Rand

“The ladder of success is best climbed by stepping on the rungs of opportunity​.” ~ Ayn Rand

“Rationalization is a process of not perceiving reality, but of attempting to make reality fit one’s emotions​.” ~ Ayn Rand

“I refuse to apologize for my ability – I refuse to apologize for my success – I refuse to apologize for my money. If this is evil, make the most of it​.” ~ Ayn Rand

“A genius is a genius, regardless of the number of morons who belong to the same race – and a moron is a moron, regardless of the number of geniuses who share his racial origin​.” ~ Ayn Rand

“To fear to face an issue is to believe that the worst is true​.” ~ Ayn Rand

“The man who does not value himself, cannot value anything or anyone​.” ~ Ayn Rand

“Individual rights are not subject to a public vote; a majority has no right to vote away the rights of a minority​.” ~ Ayn Rand

“Love is our response to our highest values​.” ~ Ayn Rand

“There’s nothing of any importance in life-except how well you do your work​.” ~ Ayn Rand

“My happiness is not the means to any end. It is the end. It is its own goal. It is its own purpose​.” ~ Ayn Rand

“Don’t ever give up what you want in life. The struggle is worth it​.” ~ Ayn Rand

“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​.” ~ Ayn Rand

“Guilt is altruism’s stock in trade, and the inducing of guilt is its only means of self-perpetuati on​.” ~ Ayn Rand

“The 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 Rand

“A building has integrity, just as a man and just as seldom! It must be true to its own idea, have its own form, and serve its own purpose!” ~ Ayn Rand

“This god, this one word: I​.” ~ Ayn Rand

“Life is the reward of virtue. And happiness is the goal and reward of life​.” ~ Ayn Rand

“Power-lust is a weed that grows only in the vacant lots of an abandoned mind. ”

“One can’t love man without hating most of the creatures who pretend to bear his name​.” ~ Ayn Rand

“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​.” ~ Ayn Rand

“Everyone has the right to make his own decisions, but none has the right to force his decision on others​.” ~ Ayn Rand

“Don’t think. Believe. Trust your heart, not your brain. Don’t think. Feel. Believe​.” ~ Ayn Rand

“Who is John Galt?” ~ Ayn Rand

“If you know that this life is all that you have, wouldn’t you make the most of it?” ~ Ayn Rand

“Whatever their future, at the dawn of their lives, men seek a noble vision of man’s nature and of life’s potential​.” ~ Ayn Rand

“I could die for you. But I couldn’t, and wouldn’t, live for you​.” ~ Ayn Rand

“Honest people are never touchy about the matter of being trusted​.” ~ Ayn Rand

“Serenity comes from the ability to say “Yes” to existence. Courage comes from the ability to say “No” to the wrong choices made by others​.” ~ Ayn Rand

“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​.” ~ Ayn Rand

“There can be no justification for choosing any part of that which one knows to be evil​.” ~ Ayn Rand

“Man’s basic vice, the source of all his evils, is the act of unfocusing his mind, the suspension of his consciousness, which is not blindness, but the refusal to see, not ignorance, but the refusal to know​.” ~ Ayn Rand

“The truth is not for all men but only for those who seek it​.” ~ Ayn Rand

“A rational man is guided by his thinking – by a process of Reason – not by his feelings and desires​.” ~ Ayn Rand

“The creed of sacrifice is a morality for the immoral​.” ~ Ayn Rand

“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​.” ~ Ayn Rand

“I started my life with a single absolute: that the world was mine to shape in the image of my highest values and never to be given up to a lesser standard, no matter how long or hard the struggle​.” ~ Ayn Rand

“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​.” ~ Ayn Rand

“The hardest thing to explain is the glaringly evident which everybody has decided not to see​.” ~ Ayn Rand

“The conservatives want to rule man’s consciousness; the liberals, his body​.” ~ Ayn Rand

“Action without thought is mindlessness, and thought without action is hypocritical​.” ~ Ayn Rand

“The moral is the chosen, not the forced; the understood, not the obeyed. The moral is the rational, and reason accepts no commandments​.” ~ Ayn Rand

“He never felt lonliness except when he was happy​.” ~ Ayn Rand

“The moral absolute should be: if and when, in any dispute, one side initiates the use of physical force, that side is wrong – and no consideration or discussion of the issues is necessary or appropriate​.” ~ Ayn Rand

“But I don’t think of you. – Howard Roark​.” ~ Ayn Rand

“Money is only a tool. It will take you wherever you wish, but it will not replace you as the driver​.” ~ Ayn Rand

“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.’”

“Reason is not automatic. Those who deny it cannot be conquered by it. Do not count on them. Leave them alone​.” ~ Ayn Rand

“Wealth is the product of man’s capacity to think​.” ~ Ayn Rand

“Integrity is the ability to stand by an idea​.” ~ Ayn Rand

“Honesty is the recognition of the fact that the unreal is unreal and can have no value, that neither love nor fame nor cash is a value if obtained by fraud​.” ~ Ayn Rand

“To say “I love you” one must know first how to say the “I”​.” ~ Ayn Rand

“I am interested in politics only in order to secure and protect freedom​.” ~ Ayn Rand

“The evasion of responsibility is the major cause of most peoples frustrations and defeats​.” ~ Ayn Rand

“A quest for self-respect is proof of its lack​.” ~ Ayn Rand

“Men who reject the responsibility of thought and reason can only exist as parasites on the thinking of others​.” ~ Ayn Rand

“In the temple of his spirit, each man is alone​.” ~ Ayn Rand

“Because I never have any definite destination. This ship is not for going to places, but for getting away from them. When I stop at a port, it’s only for the sheer pleasure of leaving it. I always think: here’s one more place that can’t hold me​.” ~ Ayn Rand

“A man’s rights are not violated by a private individual’s refusal to deal with him​.” ~ Ayn Rand

“People are not embracing collectivism because they have accepted bad economics. They are accepting bad economics because they have embraced collectivism​.” ~ Ayn Rand

“I take no pride in hopeless longing; I wouldn’t hold a stillborn aspiration. I’d want to have it, to make it, to live it​.” ~ Ayn Rand

“In any compromise between food and poison, it is only death that can win. In any compromise between good and evil, it is only evil that can profit​.” ~ Ayn Rand

“A creative man is motivated by the desire to achieve, not by the desire to beat others​.” ~ Ayn Rand

“The more you learn, the more you know that you know nothing​.” ~ Ayn Rand

“Love is not self-sacrifice, but the most profound assertion of your own needs and values. It is for your own happiness that you need the person you love, and that is the greatest compliment, the greatest tribute you can pay to that person​.” ~ Ayn Rand

“I think. I am. I will​.” ~ Ayn Rand