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The Voice of Reason: Essays in Objectivist Thought

Book by Ayn Rand · 14 quotes · Men, Economic, Economics

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The Voice of Reason: Essays in Objectivist Thought Quotes

“Since there is no such entity as 'the public,' since the public is merely a number of individuals, the idea that 'the public interest' supersedes private interests and rights can have but one meaning: that the interests and rights of some individuals take precedence over the interests and rights of others.”

IdeasIndividualInterestNumbersLibertyRightsLibertarianLibertarianismEntityFreedom And LibertyFreedom LibertyProperty RightsIndividual LibertyLimiting GovernmentPublic InterestPrecedence
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“One of the methods used by statists to destroy capitalism consists in establishing controls that tie a given industry hand and foot, making it unable to solve its problems, then declaring that freedom has failed and stronger controls are necessary.”

ProblemHandsUsedGivenLibertyFeetEconomicIndustryCapitalismEconomicsStrongerMethodSolveTiesDeclaringHands And Feet
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“Lobbying' is the activity of attempting to influence legislation by privately influencing the legislators. It is the result and creation of a mixed economy-of government by pressure groups. Its methods range from mere social courtesies and cocktail-party or luncheon "friendships" to favors, threats, bribes, blackmail.”

GovernmentSocialResultsPartyLibertyEconomyGroupsInfluenceEconomicCreationActivityEconomicsPressureMethodThreatMereFavorsRangeLegislationAttemptingCourtesyCocktailsLegislatorsBribeBlackmailLobbyingCocktail PartiesPressure GroupsMixed Economy
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“Politically, the goal of today’s dominant trend is statism. Philosophically , the goal is the obliteration of reason; psychologically , it is the erosion of ambition. The political goal presupposes the two others. The human characteristic required by statism is docility, which is the product of hopelessness and intellectual stagnation. Thinking men cannot be ruled; ambitious men do not stagnate.”

ThinkingMenHumansTwoReasonTodayPoliticalGoalProductsAmbitionIntellectualCharacteristicsTrendsAmbitiousDominantHopelessnessStagnationErosionThinking ManAmbitious Man
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“Abortion is a moral right-which should be left to the sole discretion of the woman involved; morally, nothing other than her wish in the matter is to be considered. Who can conceivably have the right to dictate to her what disposition she is to make of the functions of her body?”

ShouldMatterBodyLeftWishMoralInvolvedFunctionAbortionSoleDispositionDiscretion
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“A chronic lack of pleasure, of any enjoyable, rewarding or stimulating experiences, produces a slow, gradual, day-by-day erosion of man's emotional vitality, which he may ignore or repress, but which is recorded by the relentless computer of his subconscious mechanism that registers an ebbing flow, then a trickle, then a few last drops of fuel--until the day when his inner motor stops and he wonders desperately why he has no desire to go on, unable to find any definable cause of his hopeless, chronic sense of exhaustion.”

MenMayLastsDesireCausesPleasureWonderProduceEmotionalGoes OnComputerFlowFuelHopelessMechanismLazinessSubconsciousVitalityEnjoyableMotorRelentlessRegisterExhaustionErosion
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