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Ayn Rand Quotes

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Famous Ayn Rand Quotes

“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
Book:The Ayn Rand Lexicon: Objectivism from A to Z
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“We are on strike against martyrdom—and against the moral code that demands it. We are on strike against those who believe that one man must exist for the sake of another. We are on strike against the morality of cannibals, be it practiced in body or in spirit. We will not deal with men on any terms but ours—and our terms are a moral code which holds that man is an end in himself and not the means to any end of others.”

MenBelieveMeanEndsBodySpiritTermDealsMoralMoralityDemandSakeStrikesCodeOne ManMartyrdomCannibalMoral Code
Book:Atlas Shrugged
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“There’s no way to rule innocent men. The only power any government has is the power to crack down on criminals. Well, when there aren’t enough criminals, one makes them. One declares so many things to be a crime that it becomes impossible for me to live without breaking laws. Who wants a nation of law-abiding citizens? What’s there in that for anyone? But just pass the kind of laws that can neither be observed or enforced nor objectively interpreted - and you create a nation of law-breakers - and then you cash in on guilt.”

MenWayWantWellsKindEnoughGovernmentLawNationsImpossibleCrimeCitizensGuiltCriminalsInnocentCracksCashAbidingBreaking The LawLaw Abiding CitizenInnocent ManLaw Breakers
Book:Atlas Shrugged
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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
Book:The Ayn Rand Lexicon: Objectivism from A to Z
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“Creation comes before distribution - or there will be nothing to distribute. The need of the creator comes before the need of any possible beneficiary. Yet we are taught to admire the second-hander who dispenses gifts he has not produced above the man who made the gifts possible. We praise an act of charity. We shrug at an act of achievement.”

MenNeedsMadeLibertyCreationTaughtHe ManAchievementPraiseCharityCreatorAdmireDistributionFountainheadBeneficiariesActs Of Charity
Book:Ayn Rand Reader
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“Did you get your money by fraud? By pandering to men's vices or men's stupidity? By catering to fools, in the hope of getting more than your ability deserves? By lowering your standards? By doing work you despise for purchasers you scorn? If so, then your money will not give you a moment's or a penny's worth of joy. Then all the things you buy will become, not a tribute to you, but a reproach; not an achievement, but a reminder of shame.”

IfsMenGivingMomentsJoyAbilityMoneyFoolAchievementStandardsDeserveShameGreedInvestingVicesStupidityFraudDespiseRemindersScornPenniesTributeReproachCateringPurchasers
Book:Atlas Shrugged
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“God help us, ma'am! Do you see what we saw? We saw that we'd been given a law to live by, a moral law, they called it, which punished those who observed it - for observing it. The more you tried to live up to it, the more you suffered; the more you cheated it, the bigger reward you got. Your honesty was like a tool left at the mercy of the next man's dishonesty. The honest ones paid, the dishonest collected. The honest lost, the dishonest won. How long could men stay good under this sort of a law of goodness?”

MenLongHelpingLawNextLostLeftGivenMoralSawsHonestHonestyGoodnessLosingToolsMercyBiggerPaidRewardsLive ByObservingDishonestyCheatedGod HelpMoral LawGod Help UsYou Cheated
Book:Ayn Rand Novel Collection
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“It does not matter that only a few in each generation will grasp and achieve the full reality of man's proper stature-and the rest will betray it. It is those few that move the world and give life its meaning-and it is those few that I have always sought to address. The rest are no concern of mine; it is not me or "The Fountainhead" that they will betray: it is their own souls.”

MenWorldLifeGivingDoeSoulMatterRealityMovingCourageGenerationsAchieveMinesConcernIndividualityBetrayalAddressesBetrayStatureFountainhead
Book:The Fountainhead
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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
Book:The Ayn Rand Lexicon: Objectivism from A to Z
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“When you see that trading is done, not by consent, but by compulsion - when you see that in order to produce, you need to obtain permission from men who produce nothing - when you see that money is flowing to those who deal, not in goods, but in favors - when you see that men get richer by graft and by pull than by work, and your laws don't protect you against them, but protect them against you - when you see corruption being rewarded and honesty becoming a self-sacrifice - you may know that your society is doomed.”

KnowsMenNeedsMaySelfDoneLawOrderDealsLibertySacrificeSocietyEconomicHonestyProduceBecomingProtectCorruptionFavorsGoodsConspiracyPermissionDoomedConsentTradingCompulsionGet RichYou AgainSelf SacrificeProtect You
Book:Ayn Rand Novel Collection
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“The government's only proper job is to protect individual rights against violence by force or fraud ... to protect men from foreign invaders ... to settle disputes among men according to objective laws ... The greatness of the Founding Fathers was how well they understood this issue and how close some of them came to understanding it perfectly.”

MenWellsGovernmentJobsLawFatherIndividualForceUnderstandingLibertyIssuesRightsViolenceEconomicGreatnessProtectUnderstoodLibertarianObjectivesSettlingFraudLibertarianismFoundingDisputesIndividual LibertyIndividual RightsInvadersGreat LibertarianAgainst Violence
Author:Ayn Rand
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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
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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“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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“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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“"Judge not, that ye be not judge"... is an abdication of moral responsibility: it is a moral blank check one gives to others in exchange for a moral blank check one expects for oneself. There is no escape from the fact that men have to make choices; so long as men have to make choices, there is no escape from moral values; so long as moral values are at stake, no moral neutrality is possible. To abstain from condemning a torturer, is to become an accesory to the torture and murder of his victims. The moral principle to adopt... is: "Judge, and be prepared to be judged."”

MenGivingLongFactsValuesChoicesFearResponsibilityMoralPrinciplesAtheismJudgingMurderVictimPreparedOneselfRageChecksTortureStakesJudgedBlankBe PreparedNeutralityCondemningMoral ValuesMoral PrinciplesMoral ResponsibilityAbdicationBlank Check
Author:Ayn Rand
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“No matter how vast your knowledge or how modest, it is your own mind that has to acquire it. It is only with your own knowledge that you can deal. It is only your own knowledge that you can claim to possess or ask others to consider. Your mind is your only judge of truth - and if others dissent from your verdict, reality is the court of final appeal. Nothing but a man's mind can perform that complex, delicate, crucial process of identification which is thinking. Nothing can direct the process but his own judgment. Nothing can direct his judgment but his moral integrity.”

IfsThinkingMenMindMatterRealityAsksProcessDealsMoralJudgingIntegrityJudgmentDirectClaimsCourtComplexesFinalsAppealsAcquireCrucialDelicateModestyModestDissentIdentificationVerdictMoral Integrity
Book:Ayn Rand Reader
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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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“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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“So long as men desire to live together, no man may initiate the use of physical force against others. . . . When a man attempts to deal with me by force, I answer him by force. It is only as retaliation that force may be used and only against the man who starts its use. No, I do not share his evil or sink to his concept of morality: I merely grant him his choice, destruction, the only destruction he had the right to choose: his own.”

MenMayLongUseTogetherUsedDesireChoicesEvilForceAnswersDealsShareHe ManMoralityConceptsDestructionGrantsInitiateRetaliationDesire To LivePhysical Force
Author:Ayn Rand
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“A rational process is a moral process. You may make an error at any step of it, with nothing to protect you but your own severity, or you may try to cheat, to fake the evidence and evade the effort of the quest - but if devotion to the truth is the hallmark of morality, then there is no greater, nobler, more heroic form of devotion than the act of a man who assumes the responsibility of thinking.”

IfsThinkingMenTryingMayTruthFormProcessEffortResponsibilityMoralStepsGreaterMoralityTruth IsProtectEvidenceAssumingErrorsDevotionRationalFakeAssumptionCheatingHeroicQuestsCheatHallmarkProtect YouSeverity
Book:Atlas Shrugged
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