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Ayn Rand Quotes

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Famous Ayn Rand Quotes

“I cannot project the degree of hatred required to make those women run around in crusades against abortion. Hatred is what they certainly project, not love for the embryos, which is a piece of nonsense no one could experience, but hatred, a virulent hatred for an unnamed object...Their hatred is directed against human beings as such, against the mind, against reason, against ambition, against success, against love, against any value that brings happiness to human life. In compliance with the dishonesty that dominates today's intellectual field, they call themselves "pro-life".”

MindHumansReasonRunningTodayValuesHuman BeingsPiecesFieldsObjectsDegreesAmbitionProjectsIntellectualHatredHuman LifeAbortionNonsenseDishonestyPro LifeCrusadesComplianceEmbryosAgainst AbortionAgainst Love
Book:The Ayn Rand Lexicon: Objectivism from A to Z
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“Observe how many people evade, rationalize and drive their minds into a state of blind stupor, in dread of discovering that those they deal with- their "loved ones" or friends or business associates or political rulers- are not merely mistaken, but evil. Observe that this dread leads them to sanction, to help and to spread the very evil whose existence they fear to acknowledge.”

PeopleMindStatesHelpingPoliticalEvilDealsExistenceBlindSpreadAcknowledgeLoved OnesDiscoveringDreadRulersMistakenAssociatesSanctionsRationalize
Book:Ayn Rand Reader
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“In order to live, man must act; in order to act, he must make choices; in order to make choices, he must define a code of values; in order to define a code of values, he must know what he is and where he is – i.e. he must know his own nature (including his means of knowledge) and the nature of the universe in which he acts – i.e. he needs metaphysics, epistemology, ethics, which means: philosophy. He cannot escape from this need; his only alternative is whether the philosophy guiding him is to be chosen by his mind or by chance.”

KnowsMenNeedsMindMeanPhilosophyValuesOrderChoicesUniverseChanceEthicsIncludingChosenAlternativesCodeMetaphysicsEpistemology
Author:Ayn Rand
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“There must be only three supreme values which govern a person's life: Reason, Purpose, and Self-esteem. Reason, as his only tool of knowledge--Purpose, as his choice of the happiness which that tool must proceed to achieve--Self-esteem, as his inviolate certainty that his mind is competent to think and his person is worthy of happiness, which means: is worthy of living. These three values imply and require all of man's virtues, and all his virtues pertain to the relation of existence and consciousness: rationality, independence, integrity, honesty, justice, productiveness, pride.”

ThinkingMenMindMeanPersonsSelfReasonPurposeValuesChoicesThreeJusticeExistenceConsciousnessVirtueAchieveSelf EsteemHonestyPrideIntegrityToolsRelationIndependenceWorthySupremeEsteemCertaintyRationalityCompetentHonesty Integrity
Author:Ayn Rand
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“Happiness is a state of non-contradictory joy--a joy without penalty or guilt, a joy that does not clash with any of your values and does not work for your own destruction, not the joy of escaping from your mind, but of using your mind's fullest power, not the joy of faking reality, but of achieving values that are real, not the joy of a drunkard, but of a producer.”

MindDoeRealStatesRealityHappinessJoyValuesAchieveDestructionGuiltInner PeaceProducersPenaltiesContradictoryClashEscapingDrunkards
Book:The Ayn Rand Lexicon: Objectivism from A to Z
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“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
Book:The Ayn Rand Lexicon: Objectivism from A to Z
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“Man's mind is his basic tool of survival. Life is given to him, survival is not. His body is given to him, its sustenance is not. His mind is given to him, its content is not. To remain alive, he must act, and before he can act he must know the nature and purpose of his action. He cannot obtain his food without a knowledge of food and of the way to obtain it. He cannot dig a ditch-or build a cyclotron-without a knowledge of his aim and of the means to achieve it. To remain alive, he must think”

ThinkingKnowsMenWayMindMeanBodyActionLife IsPurposeGivenAliveAchieveSurvivalToolsAimSustenance
Book:For the New Intellectual: The Philosophy of Ayn Rand (50th Anniversary Edition)
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“I like to think of fire held in a man's hand. Fire, a dangerous force, tamed at his fingertips. I often wonder about the hours when a man sits alone, watching the smoke of a cigarette, thinking. I wonder what great things have come from such hours. When a man thinks, there is a spot of fire alive in his mind--and it is proper that he should have the burning point of a cigarette as his one expression.”

ThinkingMenShouldMindHandsForceHoursWonderFireAliveDangerousExpressionShould HaveGreat ThingsSpotsBurningSmokeCigaretteFingertipsTamed
Book:Ayn Rand Novel Collection
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“I love you. As the same value, as the same expression, with the same pride and the same meaning as I love my work, my mills, my Metal, my hours at a desk, at a furnace, in a laboratory, in an ore mine, as I love my ability to work, as I love the act of sight and knowledge, as I love the action of my mind when it solves a chemical equation or grasps a sunrise, as I love the things I've made and the things I've felt, as *my* product, as *my* choice, as a shape of my world, as my best mirror, as the wife I've never had, as that which makes all the rest of it possible: as my power to live.”

WorldMindMadeActionValuesChoicesFeltHoursAbilityWifeLove YouMinesExpressionProductsPrideShapesSightMirrorsSolveChemicalsMetalsDesksSunriseEquationsLaboratoryMillsOf My MindFurnaces
Book:Ayn Rand Novel Collection
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“I am older than you. Believe me, there is no other way to live on earth. Men are not open to truth or reason. They cannot be reached by a rational argument. The mind is powerless against them. Yet we have to deal with them. If we want to accomplish anything, we have to deceive them into letting us accomplish it. Or force them. They understand nothing else. We cannot expect their support for any endeavor of the intellect, for any goal of the spirit. They are nothing but vicious animals. They are greedy, self-indulgent, predatory dollar-chasers”

IfsMenWayWantMindBelieveSelfReasonEarthSpiritForceGoalAnimalDealsSupportArgumentDollarsAccomplishIntellectRationalEndeavorBelieve In MeDeceivingGreedyPowerlessViciousWay To LivePredatorySelf IndulgentChasers
Author:Ayn Rand
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“You have been called selfish for the courage of acting on your own judgement and bearing sole responsibility for your own life. You have been called arrogant for your independent mind. You have been called cruel for your unyielding integrity. You have been calle anti social for the vision that made you venture upon undiscovered roads.”

MindHas BeensMadeSocialActingResponsibilityVisionIntegrityIndependentSelfishJudgementArrogantSoleVentureUnyieldingAnti Social
Book:For the New Intellectual: The Philosophy of Ayn Rand (50th Anniversary Edition)
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“Fight for the value of your person. Fight for the virtue of your pride. Fight for the essence of that which is man: for his sovereign rational mind. Fight with the radiant certainty and the absolute rectitude of knowing that yours is the Morality of Life and that yours is the battle for any achievement, any value, any grandeur, any goodness, any joy that has ever existed on this earth”

MenMindPersonsEarthJoyValuesFightingKnowingVirtuePrideMoralityBattleGoodnessAchievementEssenceAbsolutesRationalCertaintySovereignGrandeurRadiantRectitude
Book:Atlas Shrugged
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“It is my eyes which see, and the sight of my eyes grants beauty to the earth. It is my ears which hear, and the hearing of my ears gives its song to the world. It is my mind which thinks, and the judgement of my mind is the only searchlight that can find the truth. It is my will which chooses, and the choice of my will is the only edict I must respect.”

ThinkingWorldGivingMindEyeEarthSongChoicesEarsSightHearingJudgementGrantsOf My Mind
Book:Study Guide: Anthem (Study Gudie and Book)
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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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“Productiveness is your acceptance of morality, your recognition of the fact that you choose to live-that productive work is the process by which man's consciousness controls his existence, a constant process of acquiring knowledge and shaping matter to fit one's purpose, of translating an idea into physical form, of remaking the earth in the image of one's values-that all work is creative work if done by a thinking mind.”

IfsThinkingMenInspirationalMindIdeasMatterDoneFactsEarthFormSuccessPurposeValuesProcessExistenceConsciousnessCreativeAcceptanceFitMoralityConstantRecognitionProductiveInsightfulYou ChooseTranslateCreative WorkThinking MindAcquiring KnowledgeProductive Work
Book:For the New Intellectual: The Philosophy of Ayn Rand (50th Anniversary Edition)
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“The basic need of the creator is independence. The reasoning mind cannot work under any form of compulsion. It cannot be curbed, sacrificed or subordinated to any consideration whatsoever. It demands total independence in function and in motive.”

NeedsMindFormDemandFunctionIndependenceCreatorMotiveReasoningConsiderationCompulsionFountainheadBasic Needs
Book:For the New Intellectual: The Philosophy of Ayn Rand (50th Anniversary Edition)
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“A society that robs an individual of the product of his effort, or enslaves him, or attempts to limit the freedom of his mind, or compels him to act against his own rational judgment-a society that sets up a conflict between its edicts and the requirements of man’s nature—is not, strictly speaking, a society, but a mob held together by institutionalized gang-rule.”

MenMindTogetherIndividualEffortProductsConflictLimitsJudgmentRationalRequirementsGang
Book:The virtue of selfishness: a new concept of egoism
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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
Book:The Ayn Rand Lexicon: Objectivism from A to Z
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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
Book:The Ayn Rand Lexicon: Objectivism from A to Z
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“The man of authentic self-confidence is the man who relies on the judgment of his own mind. Such a man is not malleable; he may be mistaken, he may be fooled in a given instance, but he is inflexible in regard to the absolutism of reality, i.e., in seeking and demanding truth.”

MenMindMaySelfRealityGivenSelf EsteemHe ManConfidenceJudgmentRegardSeekingSelf ConfidenceEsteemInstanceRelyMistakenFooledAuthentic SelfAbsolutism
Book:The New Left: the Anti-Industrial Revolution
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“There is a fundamental conviction which some people never acquire, some hold only in their youth, and a few hold to the end of their days-the conviction that ideas matter . . . . That ideas matter means that knowledge matters, that truth matters, that one's mind matters . . .”

PeopleMindMeanIdeasEndsMatterYouthFundamentalsConvictionAcquire
Book:The Return of the Primitive: The Anti-Industrial Revolution
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