We have come to see how great is the unexplored.
It is my eyes which see, and the sight of my eyes grants beauty to the earth.
If you agree with some tenets of Objectivism, but disagree with others, do not call yourself an Objectivist; give proper authorship credit for the parts you agree with.
An emotion is an automatic response, an automatic effect of man’s value premises. An effect, not a cause. There is no necessary clash, no dichotomy between man’s reason and his emotions.
Who was it that said he needed a fulcrum? Give me an unobstructed right-of-way and I’ll show them how to move the earth!
You love only those who deserve it.
Mr. Ward, what is it that the foulest bastards on earth denounce us for, among other things? Oh yes, for our motto of ‘Business as usual.’ Well-business as usual, Mr. Ward!
Independence is the recognition of the fact that yours is the responsibility of judgement and nothing can help you escape it – that no substitute can do your thinking, as no pinch-hitter can live your life.
A code of values accepted by choice is a code of morality.
In that world, you’ll be able to rise in the morning with the spirit you had known in your childhood: that spirit of eagerness, adventure and certainty which comes from dealing with a rational universe.
Contrary to the vulgar belief that men are motivated primarily by materialistic considerations, we now see the capitalist system being discredited and destroyed all over the world, even though this system has given men the greatest material comforts.
Capitalism is our only moral system. All other systems take advantage of man’s rights and liberties.
When you have established that one alternative is good and the other is evil, there is no justification for the choice of a mixture. There is no justification ever for choosing any part of what you know to be evil.
The skyline of New York is a monument of a splendour that no pyramids or palaces will ever equal or approach.
Productive work is the central purpose of a rational man’s life, the central value that integrates and determines the hierarchy of all his other values. Reason is the source, the precondition of his productive work, pride is the result.
Competition is a by-product of productive work, not its goal.
A ‘whim’ is a desire experienced by a person who does not know and does not care to discover its cause.
The problem is not those who dream, but those who can only dream.
We are on strike against the doctrine that life is guilt.
It is one’s own personal, selfish happiness that one seeks, earns, and derives from love.