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Famous Ayn Rand Quotes

“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
Book:The Ayn Rand Lexicon: Objectivism from A to Z
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“Capitalism has created the highest standard of living ever known on earth. The evidence is incontrovertible. The contrast between West and East Berlin is the latest demonstration, like a laboratory experiment for all to see. Yet those who are loudest in proclaiming their desire to eliminate poverty are loudest in denouncing capitalism. Man's well-being is not their goal.”

MenWellsEarthDesireGoalKnownLibertyPovertyEconomicHighestStandardsEvidenceCapitalismWestEastLibertarianExperimentsWell BeingContrastLibertarianismLaboratoryDemonstrationBerlinStandards Of LivingProclaimingEast Berlin
Book:Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal
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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
Book:The Ayn Rand Lexicon: Objectivism from A to Z
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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
Book:The Ayn Rand Lexicon: Objectivism from A to Z
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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
Book:The Voice of Reason: Essays in Objectivist Thought
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“Collectivism holds that the individual has no rights, that his life and work belong to the group (to "society," to the tribe, the state, the nation) and that the group may sacrifice him at its own whim to its own interests. The only way to implement a doctrine of that kind is by means of brute force - and statism has always been the poltical corollary of collectivism.”

WayKindMayMeanStatesIndividualForceNationsInterestLibertyRightsSacrificeGroupsSocietyEconomicEconomicsDoctrineTribesBrutesWhimCollectivismBrute Force
Book:The Virtue of Selfishness
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“No individual or private group or private organization has the legal power to initiate the use of physical force against other individuals or groups and to compel them to act against their own voluntary choice. Only a government holds that power. The nature of governmental action is: coercive action. The nature of political power is: the power to force obedience under threat of physical injury-the threat of property expropriation, imprisonment, or death.”

UseGovernmentActionPoliticalChoicesIndividualForceLibertyGroupsEconomicEconomicsOrganizationPropertyThreatObedienceInjuryPolitical PowerImprisonmentInitiatePhysical Force
Book:Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal
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“America's abundance was not created by public sacrifices to the common good, but by the productive genius of free men who pursued their own personal interests and the making of their own private fortunes.”

MenAmericaInterestCommonLibertySacrificeGeniusEconomicsFortuneLibertarianAbundanceProductiveLibertarianismFree MarketPursuedFree ManCommon GoodIndustrializationPersonal InterestFree Market CapitalismPolitics And Economics
Book:Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal
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“Do not consider Collectivists as "sincere but deluded idealists". The proposal to enslave some men for the sake of others is not an ideal; brutality is not "idealistic," no matter what its purpose. Do not ever say that the desire to "do good" by force is a good motive. Neither power-lust nor stupidity are good motives.”

MenMatterDesirePurposeForceLibertyIdealsNo Matter WhatSakeStupidityLibertarianLustMotiveSincereLibertarianismProposalBrutalityIdealistDeludedIdealistic
Author:Ayn Rand
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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
Book:The Ayn Rand Lexicon: Objectivism from A to Z
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“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.”

MenAbilityLibertyProductsDemandAchievementAmbitionCapitalismTradeRewardsEvery ManLikesRationality
Book:For the New Intellectual: The Philosophy of Ayn Rand (50th Anniversary Edition)
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“Capitalism is the only system that can make freedom, individuality, and the pursuit of values possible in practice. When I say 'capitalism,' I mean a pure, uncontrolled, unregulated laissez-faire capitalism - with a separation of economics, in the same way and for the same reasons as a separation of state and church.”

WayMeanStatesReasonValuesChurchLibertyPracticePureCapitalismEconomicsIndividualitySeparationPursuitLaissez FaireLaissez Faire Capitalism
Author:Ayn Rand
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“I am opposed to all forms of control; I am for an absolute laissez faire, free, unregulated economy. I am for the separation of the state and economics, just as we had separation of state and church, which led to peaceful coexistence among different religions...so the same applies to economics. If you separate the government from economics, if you do not regulate production and trade, you will have peaceful cooperation, and harmony and justice among men.”

IfsMenDifferentStatesGovernmentFormChurchJusticeLibertyEconomyCapitalismEconomicsAbsolutesHarmonyTradeProductionsSeparationPeacefulCooperationCoexistenceLaissez FairePeaceful CoexistenceDifferent Religions
Author:Ayn Rand
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“All "public interest' legislation (and any distribution of money taken by force from some men for the unearned benefit of others) comes down ultimately to the grant of an undefined undefinable, non-objective, arbitrary power to some government officials. The worst aspect of it is not that such a power can be used dishonestly, but that it cannot be used honestly. The wisest man in the world, with the purest integrity, cannot find a criterion for the just, equitable, rational application of an unjust, inequitable, irrational principle.”

MenWorldGovernmentUsedForceInterestLibertyPrinciplesTakenWorstIntegrityBenefitsAspectHonestlyObjectivesRationalOfficialsGrantsApplicationIrrationalLegislationUnjustDistributionArbitraryCriteriaWisestPublic InterestEquitableWisest ManGovernment OfficialsUndefined
Book:Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal
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