Ayn Rand

Kill reverence and you’ve killed the hero in man.

He was guilty of nothing, except that he earned his own fortune and never forgot that it was his.

James, you ought to discover some day that words have an exact meaning.

An artist does not fake reality--he *stylizes* it.

If men want to oppose war, it is *statism* that they must oppose.

A good novel is an indivisible sum; every scene, sequence and passage of a good novel has to involve, contribute to and advance all three of its major attributes: theme, plot, characterization.

Art is the Indispensible medium for the communication of a moral idea.

Do not let your fire go out, spark by irreplaceable spark. In the hopeless swamps of the not quite, the not yet, and the not at all, do not let the hero in your soul perish and leave only frustration for the life you deserved, but never have been able to reach. The world you desire can be won, it exists, it is real, it is possible, it is yours.

Love is our response to our highest values. Love is self-enjoyment. The noblest love is born out of admiration of another’s values.

Happiness is possible only to a rational man, the man who desires nothing but rational goals, seeks nothing but rational values and finds his joy in nothing buy rational actions.

Rationality is the recognition of the fact that nothing can alter the truth and nothing can take precedence over that act of perceiving it.

Independence is the recognition of the fact that yours is the responsibility of judgment and nothing can help you escape it.

Honesty is the recognition of the fact that the unreal is unreal and can have no value, that neither love nor fame nor cash is a value if obtained by fraud.

Integrity is the recognition of the fact that you cannot fake your consciousness, just as honesty is the recognition of the fact that you cannot fake existence.

Pride is the recognition of the fact that you are your own highest value and, like all of man’s values, it has to be earned.

The Argument from Intimidation is a confession of intellectual impotence.

I need no warrant for being, and no word of sanction upon my being. I am the warrant and the sanction.

It is not advisable, James, to venture unsolicited opinions. You should spare yourself the embarrassing discovery of their exact value to your listener.

The evil of the world is made possible by nothing but the sanction you give it.