Home / Quotes / Quote by Ayn Rand

Quote by Ayn Rand

“You don't build for the way people live, but for the way they should live. I don't write about people as they are, but as they could be and should be.”

Quote by Ayn Rand

Book:Letters of Ayn Rand

Work

Letters of Ayn Rand

This book includes a selection of letters written by Ayn Rand, offering insights into her personal life, philosophical thoughts, and the development of her literary works. more

Author

American novelist and philosopher, known for her novels and philosophical ideas. Her works emphasize individualism, free markets, and rationalism, and have had a profound impact on politics and philosophy in the late 20th century. more

You May Also Like

“There is only one institution that can arrogate to itself the power legally to trade by means of rubber checks: the government. And it is the only institution that can mortgage your future without your knowledge or consent: government securities (and paper money) are promissory notes on future tax receipts, i.e., on your future production.”

Mean Government Security Taxes Paper Institutions Trade Notes Productions Checks Our Future Consent Your Future Mortgage Rubber Receipts Paper Money

Book:The Ayn Rand Lexicon: Objectivism from A to Z

Source: The Ayn Rand Lexicon: Objectivism from A to Z

“All public projects are mausoleums, not always in shapes, but always in cost.”

Government Cost Shapes Projects Mausoleum

Book:The Virtue of Selfishness

Source: The Virtue of Selfishness

“But the mind is an attribute of the individual. There is no such thing as a collective brain. There is no such thing as a collective thought. An agreement reached by a group of men is only a compromise or an average drawn upon many individual thoughts.”

Men Mind Individual Brain Groups Average Individuality Compromise Collectives Agreement Attributes Fountainhead Collective Consciousness

Book:Ayn Rand Reader

Source: Ayn Rand Reader

“There is no hope for the world unless and until we formulate, accept and state publicly a true moral code of individualism, based on man's inalienable right to live for himself. Neither to hurt nor to serve his brothers, but to be independent of them in his function and in his motive. Neither to sacrifice them for himself nor to sacrifice himself for them.”

Men World States Hurt Accepting Moral Sacrifice Brother Function Independent Individuality Code Motive Individualism No Hope Moral Code

Book:Letters of Ayn Rand

Source: Letters of Ayn Rand

“A story is an end in itself. It is not written to teach, sell, explain or destroy anything. It is not written even to entertain. It is written as a man is born - an organic whole, dictated only by its own laws and its own necessity - an end in itself, not a means to an end.”

Men Mean Ends Whole Stories Law Literature Born Teach Written Sells Means To An End

Book:Letters of Ayn Rand

Source: Letters of Ayn Rand

“Money is the root of all good.”

Book:Atlas Shrugged

Source: Atlas Shrugged

“The moral absolute should be: if and when, in any dispute, one side initiates the use of physical force, that side is wrong - and no consideration or discussion of the issues is necessary or appropriate.”

Ifs Should Use Force Sides Moral Issues Morality Absolutes Discussion Appropriate Consideration Disputes Initiate Ifs And Physical Force

Author:Ayn Rand

“A rational process is a moral process.”

Reason Process Moral Morality Rational

Book:For the New Intellectual: The Philosophy of Ayn Rand (50th Anniversary Edition)

Source: For the New Intellectual: The Philosophy of Ayn Rand (50th Anniversary Edition)

“The plot of a movie is its motor. It is not an accident that people call pictures 'vehicles' for stars. A vehicle has to move. A plotless story is like an expensive car with a wonderful body design, luxurious seats, upholstery, headlights (production, direction, cast) - and no motor under its hood. That is why it gets nowhere.”

People Stories Body Moving Stars Wonderful Car Design Casts Productions Accidents Movie Seats Expensive Plot Vehicle Motor Hood Luxurious Headlights Upholstery Expensive Cars

Book:Letters of Ayn Rand

Source: Letters of Ayn Rand

“A good quotation must be a complete entity. It must be like a headline - sharp, clear, whole.”

Whole Clear Entity Quotations Headlines

Book:Letters of Ayn Rand

Source: Letters of Ayn Rand