What is the basic, the essential, the crucial principle that differentiates freedom from slavery? It is the principle of voluntary action versus physical coercion or compulsion.
An attempt to achieve the good by force is like an attempt to provide a man with a picture gallery at the price of cutting out his eyes.
It is a free market that makes monopolies impossible.
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 end does not justify the means. No one’s rights can be secured by the violation of the rights of others.
Living in a society, instead of on a desert island, does not relieve a man of the responsibility of supporting his own life.
Reason is not automatic. Those who deny it cannot be conquered by it. Do not count on them. Leave them alone.
A genius is a genius, regardless of the number of morons who belong to the same race – and a moron is a moron, regardless of the number of geniuses who share his racial origin.
Rationality is the recognition of the fact that nothing can alter the truth and nothing can take precedence over that act of perceiving it.
But there are people who’ll try to hurt you through the good they see in you – knowing that it’s the good, needing it and punishing you for it. Don’t let it break you when you discover that.
Political freedom cannot exist without economic freedom; a free mind and a free market are corollaries.
All depressions are caused by government interference and the cure is always offered to take more of the poison that caused the disaster. Depressions are not the result of a free economy.
Creation comes before distribution – or there will be nothing to distribute.
I would step in the way of a bullet if it were aimed at my husband. It is not self-sacrifice to die protecting that which you value: If the value is great enough, you do not care to exist without it.
Everyone has the right to make his own decisions, but none has the right to force his decision on others.
Believing in fate produces fate. Believing in freedom will create infinite possibilities.
The great creators-the thinkers, the artists, the scientists, the inventors-stood alone against the men of their time.
Men who reject the responsibility of thought and reason can only exist as parasites on the thinking of others.
Civilization is the progress toward a society of privacy. The savage’s whole existence is public, ruled by the laws of his tribe. Civilization is the process of setting man free from men.
The basic need of the creator is independence. The reasoning mind cannot work under any form of compulsion. It cannot be curbed, sacrificed or subordinated to any consideration whatsoever. It demands total independence in function and in motive.