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Ayn Rand

Ayn Rand Quotes

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Famous Ayn Rand Quotes

“People think that a liar gains a victory over his victim. What I’ve learned is that a lie is an act of self-abdication, because one surrenders one’s reality to the person to whom one lies, making that person one’s master, condemning oneself from then on to faking the sort of reality that person’s view requires to be faked…The man who lies to the world, is the world’s slave from then on…There are no white lies, there is only the blackest of destruction, and a white lie is the blackest of all.”

PeopleThinkingMenWorldPersonsSelfRealityTruthLyingWhiteViewsMastersVictoryGainsDestructionVictimSlaveOneselfSurrenderI've LearnedLiarsCondemningWhite LieLies And LiarsAbdication
Book:Atlas Shrugged
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“So you think that money is the root of all evil? [...] Have you ever asked what is the root of money? Money is a tool of exchange, which can't exist unless there are goods produced and men able to produce them. Money is the material shape of the principle that men who wish to deal with one another must deal by trade and give value for value. Money is not the tool of the moochers, who claim your product by tears, or of the looters, who take it from you by force. Money is made possible only by the men who produce. Is this what you consider evil?”

ThinkingMenGivingMadeAbleValuesEvilForceWishMoneyDealsPrinciplesProduceTearsMaterialsProductsShapesToolsRootsClaimsTradeMaking MoneyGoodsValue Of MoneyMoney Is The Root Of All EvilMoney Is EvilMoochers
Book:For the New Intellectual: The Philosophy of Ayn Rand (50th Anniversary Edition)
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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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“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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“And what, incidentally, do you think integrity is? The ability not to pick a watch out of your neighbor's pocket? No, it's not as easy as that. If that were all, I'd say ninety-five percent of humanity were honest, upright men. Only, as you can see, they aren't. Integrity is the ability to stand by an idea.”

IfsThinkingMenIdeasHumanityEasyAbilityWatchesFiveHonestIntegrityPicksPercentNeighborPocketsNinetyFountainheadUpright Man
Book:The Fountainhead
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“The three of them set out every morning on adventures of their own kind. Once, an elderly professor of literature, Mrs. Taggart's friend, saw them on top of a pile in a junk yard, dismantling the carcass of an automobile. He stopped, shook his head and said to Francisco, 'A young man of your position ought to spend his time in libraries, absorbing the culture of the world.' 'What do you think I'm doing?' asked Francisco.”

ThinkingMenWorldKindSaidYoungCultureThreeLiteratureMorningSawsPositionAdventureOughtLibraryYoung ManProfessorsEvery MorningYardsElderlyAutomobileJunkAbsorbingCultures Of The WorldTaggart
Book:Atlas Shrugged
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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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“It's easy to run to others. It's so hard to stand on one's own record. You can fake virtue for an audience. You can't fake it in your own eyes. Your ego is your strictest judge. They run from it. They spend their lives running. It's easier to donate a few thousand to charity and think oneself noble than to base self-respect on personal standards of personal achievement. It's simple to seek substitutes for competence--such easy substitutes: love, charm, kindness, charity. But there is no substitute for competence.”

ThinkingSelfHardEyeRunningEasySimpleKindnessAudienceVirtueRecordsJudgingEasierThousandEgoAchievementStandardsCharityOneselfNobleFakeCharmSelf RespectSubstitutesCompetenceDonatePersonal Achievement
Book:Ayn Rand Novel Collection
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“Because, you see, God - whatever anyone chooses to call God - is one's highest conception of the highest possible. And whoever places his highest conception above his own possibility thinks very little of himself and his life. It's a rare gift, you know, to feel reverence for your own life and to want the best, the greatest, the highest possible, here, now, for your very own. To imagine a heaven and then not to dream of it, but to demand it.”

ThinkingKnowsWantInspirationalFeelsLittlesDreamMotivationalHeavenImagineAtheismPossibilityDemandHighestAtheistConceptionReverence
Author:Ayn Rand
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“Now look at me! Take a good look! I was born and I knew I was alive and I knew what I wanted. What do you think is alive in me? Why do you think I'm alive? Because I have a stomach and eat and digest the food? Because I breathe and work and produce more food to digest? Or because I know what I want, and that something which knows how to want—isn't that life itself? And who—in this damned universe—who can tell me why I should live for anything but for that which I want?”

ThinkingKnowsWantLifeShouldLooksPhilosophyWantedUniverseBornWorkKnow HowKnowingAliveProducePhilosopherBreatheStomachLook At MeLooking GoodDeep ThoughtObjectivismI'm Alive
Book:For the New Intellectual: The Philosophy of Ayn Rand (50th Anniversary Edition)
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“It was beautiful and rare, and you have every right to despise me." She stood pressed to the wall, not moving. "When you came in, I thought 'Send her away.' But I knew that if you went away, I'd run after you. I thought 'I won't say a word.' But I knew that you'd know it before you left. I love you. I know you'd think kindlier of me if I said that I hate you.”

IfsThinkingKnowsSaidRunningBeautifulMovingHateLeftLove YouWallI HateDespiseHate YouI Hate You
Author:Ayn Rand
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“People don't want to think. And the deeper they get into trouble, the less they want to think. But by some sort of instinct, they feel that they ought to and it makes them feel guilty. So they'll bless and follow anyone who gives them a justification for not thinking. Anyone who makes a virtue - a highly intellectual virtue - out of what they know to be their sin, their weakness and their guilt.”

PeopleThinkingKnowsWantGivingFeelsSinKnowledgeKnowingVirtueTroubleOughtBlessingIntellectualWeaknessGuiltInstinctFollowingDeeperIntellectGuiltyBlessFollowersJustification
Author:Ayn Rand
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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
Book:The Ayn Rand Lexicon: Objectivism from A to Z
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“I don't like people who speak or think in terms of gaining anybody's confidence. If one's actions are honest, one does not need the predated confidence of others, only their rational perception. The person who craves a moral blank check of that kind, has dishonest intentions, whether he admits it to himself or not.”

PeopleIfsThinkingNeedsKindPersonsDoeActionSpeakTermMoralHonestPerceptionIntentionChecksRationalBlankCraveBlank Check
Book:Ayn Rand Reader
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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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“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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“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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“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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“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
Book:The Ayn Rand Lexicon: Objectivism from A to Z
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