Quotes from Ayn Rand

The skyline of New York is a monument of a splendour that no pyramids or palaces will ever equal or approach.

Altruism declares that any action taken for the benefit of others is good, and any action taken for one's own benefit is evil. Thus the beneficiary of an action is the only criterion of moral value - and so long as that beneficiary is anybody other than oneself, anything goes.

Statism needs war; a free country does not. Statism survives by looting; a free country survives by producing.

Do not ever say that the desire to 'do good' by force is a good motive. Neither power-lust nor stupidity are good motives.

God forgives those who invent what they need.

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

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

What you think is an illusion created by your glands, your emotions and, in the last analysis, by the content of your stomach. That gray matter you're so proud of is like a mirror in an amusement park which transmits to you nothing but distorted signals from reality forever beyond your grasp.

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.

the worst wars are religious wars between sects of the same religion or civil wars between brothers of the same race.

The truly and deliberately evil men are a very small minority; it is the appeaser who unleashes them on mankind.

When men reject reason, they have no means left for dealing with one another — except brute, physical force.

If the truth shall kill them, let them die.

The truth is not for all men, but only for those who seek it.

Talent alone is helpless today. Any success requires both talent and luck. And the 'luck' has to be helped along and provided by someone.

The government was set to protect man from criminals, and the Constitution was written to protect man from the government.

I owe nothing to my brothers, nor do I gather debts from them. I ask none to live for me, nor do I live for any others. I covet no man's soul, nor is my soul theirs to covet.

Man needs knowledge in order to survive, and only reason can achieve it; men who reject the responsibility of thought and reason, can exist only as parasites on the thinking of others.

Any alleged 'right' of one man, which necessitates the violation of the rights of another, is not and cannot be a right.

The man who speaks to you of sacrifice, speaks of slaves and masters. And intends to be the master.

Every government interference in the economy consists of giving an unearned benefit, extorted by force, to some men at the expense of others.

A man's ego is the fountainhead of human progress.

As long as men are free to speak, a small, rational minority will always prevail over an irrational majority.

There are only two means by which men can deal with one another: guns or logic. Force or persuasion. Those who know that they cannot win by means of logic, have always resorted to guns.