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The Ayn Rand Lexicon: Objectivism from A to Z

Book by Ayn Rand · 50 quotes · Men, Rights, Values

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The Ayn Rand Lexicon: Objectivism from A to Z Quotes

“That which you call your soul or spirit is your consciousness, and that which you call 'free will' is your mind's freedom to think or not, the only will you have, your only freedom, the choice that controls all the choices you make and determines your life and your character.”

ThinkingMindSoulCharacterSpiritChoicesConsciousnessConsciousDetermineYour SoulFree WillChoices You Make
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“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.”

ThinkingKnowsMenLooksSelfHandsEyeLyingHonestFrontsAchievementCreditAbsenceSelfishnessPreservesSelf RespectDeceitCheatMediocreRespectableSecond Hand
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“Do not make the mistake of the ignorant who think that an individualist is a man who says: “I’ll do as I please at everybody else’s expense.” An individualist is a man who recognizes the inalienable individual rights of man—his own and those of others.”

ThinkingMenIndividualMistakeRightsPleaseRespectHuman RightsIgnorantExpensesIndividualismMistakenRecognizingRespecting OthersEgoismIndividual RightsIgnorant People
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“Why is it immoral for you to desire, but moral for others to do so? Why is it immoral to produce a value and keep it, but moral to give it away? And if it is not moral for you to keep a value, why is it moral for others to accept it? If you are selfless and virtuous when you give it, are they not selfish and vicious when they take it?”

IfsGivingDesireValuesAcceptingMoralProduceSelfishSelfishnessSelflessVirtuousImmoralViciousNot Selfish
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“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.”

MenMeanEndsForceDifferencesLibertyEconomicAchieveAchievementVoteUltimateMurderSuicideLibertarianSocialismCommunismVotingLibertarianismProposeEnslavementCommunism And Socialism
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“Socialism is the doctrine that man has no right to exist for his own sake, that his life and his work do not belong to him, but belong to society, that the only justification of his existence is his service to society, and that society may dispose of him in any way it pleases for the sake of whatever it deems to be its own tribal, collective good.”

MenWayMayPoliticsExistenceLibertyEconomicPleaseSakeSocialismDoctrineCollectivesJustificationCollective Good
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“Every movement that seeks to enslave a country, every dictatorship or potential dictatorship, needs some minority group as a scapegoat which it can blame for the nation's troubles and use as a justification of its own demands for dictatorial powers. In Soviet Russia, the scapegoat was the bourgeoisie; in Nazi Germany, it was the Jewish people; in America, it is the businessmen.”

PeopleNeedsCountryUseAmericaNationsLibertyTroubleGroupsEconomicMovementDemandEconomicsBlameLibertarianRussiaGermanyMinoritiesSovietJustificationDictatorshipNaziBusinessmanBourgeoisieNazi GermanyScapegoatSoviet RussiaMinority Groups
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“The right to vote is a consequence, not a primary cause, of a free social system - and its value depends on the constitutional structure implementing and strictly delimiting the voters' power; unlimited majority rule is an instance of the principle of tyranny.”

ValuesSocialCausesLibertyPrinciplesEconomicDependsConsequenceEconomicsVoteMajorityStructureTyrannyInstancePrimariesVotersUnlimitedRight To VoteSocial SystemsImplementingMajority Rule
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“Men have been taught that it is a virtue to agree with others. But the creator is the man who disagrees. Men have been taught that it is a virtue to swim with the current. But the creator is the man who goes against the current. Men have been taught that it is a virtue to stand together. But the creator is the man who stands alone.”

MenHas BeensTogetherLibertyVirtueSocietyEconomicTaughtHe ManEconomicsAgreeCurrentsCreatorInsaneInsanitySwimDisagreeStand AloneFountainhead
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“As a cultural-intellectual power and a moral ideal, collectivism died in World War II. If we are still rolling in its direction, it is only by the inertia of a void and the momentum of disintegration. A social movement that began with the ponderous, brain-cracking, dialectical constructs of Hegel and Marx, and ends up with a horde of morally unwashed children stamping their foot and shrieking: "I want it now is through."”

IfsWorldWantChildrenStillsWarEndsSocialBrainLibertyMoralFeetMovementIntellectualIdealsEconomicsDiedWar Of The WorldsWorld War IiVoidWorld War IRollingConstructsMomentumCollectivismInertiaHordeHegelSocial MovementsDisintegration
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“But neither life nor happiness can be achieved by the pursuit of irrational whims. Just as man is free to attempt to survive in any random manner, but will perish unless he lives as his nature requires, so he is free to seek his happiness in any mindless fraud, but the torture of frustration is all he will find, unless he seeks the happiness proper to man. The purpose of morality is to teach you, not to suffer and die, but to enjoy yourself and live.”

MenLifePurposeSufferingDiesEnjoyTeachMoralitySurvivalPursuitTortureFrustrationFraudIrrationalWhimMindlessEnjoy Yourself
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“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.”

ThinkingMenLifeNeedsTryingEnoughShowsRealityTodayLife IsValuesHouseSocialCausesEffortPayRocksTomorrowMoralityMouthsDeserveClaimsVictimSeedsNobleDesertIslandsSandClothingsHarvestCoinsNobilityWipeDevouring
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“If you ask me to name the proudest distinction of Americans, I would choose . . . the fact that they were the people who created the phrase "to make money." No other language or nation had ever used these words before. . . . Americans were the first to understand that wealth has to be created.”

PeopleIfsFirstsFactsUsedAsksNamesLanguageNationsWealthMaking MoneyAsk MePhrasesDistinction
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“The moral justification of capitalism does not lie in the altruist claim that it represents the best way to achieve 'the common good.' It is true that capitalism does -- if that catch-phrase has any meaning -- but this is merely a secondary consequence. The moral justification for capitalism lies in the fact that it is the only system consonant with man's rational nature, that it protects man's survival qua man, and that its ruling principle is: justice”

IfsMenWayDoeFactsLyingJusticeCommonMoralPrinciplesAchieveProtectSurvivalCapitalismConsequenceClaimsBest WayRationalPhrasesJustificationRulingCommon GoodConsonantsLaissez Faire Capitalism
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“A morality that holds need as a claim, holds emptiness-non-existence-as its standard of value; it rewards an absence, a defect: weakness, inability, incompetence, suffering, disease, disaster, the lack, the fault, the flaw-the zero.”

NeedsSufferingValuesExistenceMoralityDiseaseStandardsWeaknessClaimsFaultsRewardsAbsenceDisasterEmptinessFlawsZeroDefectsInabilityIncompetenceNon Existence
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“Independence is the recognition of the fact that yours is the responsibility of judgment and nothing can help you escape it-that no substitute can do your thinking, as no pinch-hitter can live your life-that the vilest form of self-abasement and self-destruction is the subordination of your mind to the mind of another, the acceptance of an authority over your brain, the acceptance of his assertions as facts, his say-so as truth, his edicts as middle-man between your consciousness and your existence.”

ThinkingMenMindSelfFactsHelpingFormCan DoExistenceBrainConsciousnessResponsibilityMiddleAcceptanceAuthorityJudgmentDestructionIndependenceRecognitionOver YouSubstitutesLive Your LifeAssertionSelf DestructionSubordinationAbasement
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“The charming aspect of Christmas is the fact that it expresses good will in a cheerful, happy, benevolent, non-sacrificial way. One says: “Merry Christmas”-not “Weep and Repent.” And the good will is expressed in a material, earthly form-by giving presents to one's friends, or by sending them cards in token of remembrance . . . .”

WayGivingFactsHappinessFormExpressionMaterialsFriendsAspectHappyChristmasCardsNovelistsRepentanceCharmingRemembranceCheerfulRepentWeepingGood WillMerryBenevolenceGoodwillBenevolentTokensInspirational ChristmasMerry ChristmasChristmas Card
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“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.”

ThinkingNeedsMindHomeRealitySchoolPastPurposeDealsEffortEducationKnowledgeTeachStudentsTaughtProveEssentialsTrainingDevelopingAcquireTheoreticalIntegratingPurpose Of Education
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