Quotessence
Home / Authors / Ayn Rand
Ayn Rand

Ayn Rand Quotes

Novelist

Filter quotes by topic

AllMenValuesIfsThinkingReasonMindEvilPhilosophyKnowsObjectivismMeanLibertyLifeMoralityFountainheadVirtueAtlas ShruggedMoralRationalPeople

Famous Ayn Rand Quotes

“I think it's funny. There was a time when men were afraid that somebody would reveal some secret of theirs that was unknown to their fellows. Nowadays, they're afraid that somebody will name what everybody knows. Have you practical people ever thought that that's all it would take to blast your whole, big, complex structure, with all your laws and guns - just somebody naming the exact nature of what you're doing?”

PeopleThinkingKnowsMenWholeBigsFunnyLawLyingNamesSecretGunFellowsStructureComplexesPracticalsBlast
Book:Atlas Shrugged
Create image

“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)
Create image

“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
Create image

“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
Create image

“You're not sorry. You could've been here if you made the effort. But when did you ever make an effort for anybody but yourself? You're not interested in any of us or in anything we do. You think if you pay the bills, that's enough, don't you? Money! That's all you know. And all you give us is money. Have you even given us any time?”

IfsThinkingKnowsGivingMadeEnoughTimeGivenMoneyEffortPayBillsSorryNot InterestedNot Sorry
Book:Atlas Shrugged
Create image

“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
Book:The Voice of Reason: Essays in Objectivist Thought
Create image

“Self-esteem is reliance on one's power to think. It cannot be replaced by one's power to deceive. The self-confidence of a scientist and the self-confidence of a con man are not interchangeable states, and do not come from the same psychological universe. The success of a man who deals with reality augments his self-confidence. The success of a con man augments his panic.”

ThinkingMenSelfStatesRealityUniverseDealsSelf EsteemConfidenceScientistSelf ConfidenceEsteemPsychologicalPanicDeceivingReplacedRelianceDeceiverCon Artist
Author:Ayn Rand
Create image