Quotes from Ayn Rand

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

Those who grant sympathy to guilt, grant none to innocence.

A moment or an eternity—did it matter? Life, undefeated, existed and could exist.

Definitions are the guardians of rationality, the first line of defense against the chaos of mental disintegration.

Whatever their future, at the dawn of their lives, men seek a noble vision of man's nature and of life's potential.

What objectivity and the study of philosophy requires is not an 'open mind,' but an active mind - a mind able and eagerly willing to examine ideas, but to examine them criticially.

One of the most destructive anti-concepts in the history of moral philosophy is the term 'duty.

The smallest minority on earth is the individual. Those who deny individual rights cannot claim to be defenders of minorities.

I am interested in politics only in order to secure and protect freedom.

The only power any government has is the power to crack down on criminals. Well, when there aren

No one's happiness but my own is in my power to achieve or to destroy.

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

It's good to suffer. Dont complain. Bear, bow, accept - and be grateful that God has made you suffer. For this makes you better than the people who are laughing and happy.

God... a being whose only definition is that he is beyond man's power to conceive.

This god, this one word: I.

Capitalism is based on individual rights - not on the sacrifice of the individual to the 'public good' of the collective.

The charming aspect of Christmas is the fact that it expresses good will in a cheerful, happy, benevolent, non-sacrificial way.

People are not embracing collectivism because they have accepted bad economics. They are accepting bad economics because they have embraced collectivism.

The concept of free competition enforced by law is a grotesque contradiction in terms.

Government holds a legal monopoly on the use of physical force.

When the law no longer protects you from the corrupt, but protects the corrupt from you – you know your nation is doomed.

Happiness is that state of consciousness which proceeds from the achievement of one's values.

Every form of happiness is private. Our greatest moments are personal, self-motivated, not to be touched".

Government 'help' to business is just as disastrous as government persecution... the only way a government can be of service to national prosperity is by keeping its hands off.