"The moral is the chosen, not the forced; the understood, not the obeyed. The moral is the rational, and reason accepts no commandments.
Charity must be voluntary.
More Ayn Rand quotes
"Man is an end in himself.
"Every form of happiness if one, every desire is driven by the same motor--by our love for a single value, for the highest potentiality of our own exis...
"It [ballet] projects a fragile kind of strength and a certain inflexible precision.
"I have yet to see a genius or a hero who, if stuck with a burning match, would feel less pain than his undistinguished average brother.
"When the law no longer protects you from the corrupt, but protects the corrupt from you – you know your nation is doomed.
"He tried to explain and to convince. He knew, while he spoke, that it was useless, because his words sounded as if they were hitting a vacuum. There w...
"Let us throw away our candles and our torches. Let us flood the cities with light. Let us bring a new light to men! -Equality 7-2521
"Socialism may be established by force, as in the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics—or by vote, as in Nazi (National Socialist) Germany. The degree o...
"To irrational principles, one cannot be loyal. Ideas that are not derived from reality cannot be consistently practiced in reality.--as quoted by Leon...
"Have you ever felt the longing for someone you could admire? For something, not to look down at, but up to?
"Every dictator is a mystic, and every mystic is a potential dictator. A mystic craves obedience from men, not their agreement. He wants them to surren...
"But I still wonder how it was possible, in those graceless years of transition, long ago, that men did not see whither they were going, and went on, i...
"We, Equality 7-2521, were not happy in those year in the Home of the Students. It was not that the learning was too hard for us. It was that the learn...
"Do you know the hallmark of a second rater? It's resentment of another man's achievement. Those touchy mediocrities who sit trembling lest someone's w...