Quote collection
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"Virtue is not an end in itself. Virtue is not its own reward or sacrificial fodder for the reward of evil. Life is the reward of virtue-and happiness is the goal and the reward of life."
"You're not sorry. You could've been here if you made the effort. But when did you ever make an effort for anybody but yourself? You're not interested in any of us or in anything we do. You think if you pay the bills, that's enough, don't you? Money! That's all you know. And all you give us is money. Have you even given us any time?"
"If there is any one proof of a man's incompetence, it is the stagnant mentality of a worker who, doing some small routine job in a vast undertaking, does not care to look beyond the lever of a machine, does not choose to know how the machine got there or what makes his job possible, and proclaims that the management of the undertaking is parasitical and unnecessary."
"Dominique as Gail looks at her "... there is a stage of worship which makes the worshiper himself an object of reverence.""
"It is my eyes which see, and the sight of my eyes grants beauty to the earth."
"We have come to see how great is the unexplored."
"There are no little people in America. There are only people, equal before the law, yearning to breathe free and wanting to achieve the best within them."
"For they have nothing to fight me with, save the brute force of their numbers. I have my mind."
"Look around you and look at history. You will see the achievements of man’s mind. You will see man’s unlimited potentiality for greatness, and the faculty that makes it possible. You will see that man is not a helpless monster by nature, but he becomes one when he discards that faculty: his mind. And if you ask me, what is greatness? I will answer, it is the capacity to live by the three fundamental values of John Galt: reason, purpose, self-esteem."
"[What for] was the first question he asked about any activity proposed to him - and nothing would make him act, if he found no valid answer. He flew through the days of his summer month like a rocket, but if one stopped him in mid-flight, he could always name the purpose of his every random moment. Two things were impossible to him: to stand still or to move aimlessly."
"One of the most destructive anti-concepts in the history of moral philosophy is the term 'duty."
"In order to fight any issue, it is necessary to fight for something, not merely against something."
"I refuse to accept as guilt the fact of my own existence."
"Existence is Identity, Consciousness is Identification."
"Do not open your mouth to tell me that your mind has convinced you of your right to force my mind. Force and mind are opposites. Morality ends where a gun begins."
"I refuse to apologize for my ability -- I refuse to apologize for my success -- I refuse to apologize for my money. If this is evil, make the most of it."
"It is futile to fight against, if one does not know what one is fighting for."
"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."
"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!"
"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!"