“People think that a liar gains a victory over his victim. What I’ve learned is that a lie is an act of self-abdication, because one surrenders one’s reality to the person to whom one lies, making that person one’s master, condemning oneself from then on to faking the sort of reality that person’s view requires to be faked.”
Ayn Rand
Atlas Shrugged (Primary source)
In Atlas Shrugged, Ayn Rand explores Objectivism, a philosophy of rational self-interest. The story follows a dystopian United States where successful innovators, led by John Galt, go on strike to protest excessive government regulation and taxation.
“Contradictions do not exist. Whenever you think that you are facing a contradiction, check your premises. You will find that one of them is wrong.”
— Ayn Rand Primary source“I don’t intend to build in order to have clients. I intend to have clients in order to build.”
— Ayn Rand Primary source“Who will let you? That’s not the point. The point is, who will stop me?”
— Ayn Rand Primary source“A creative man is motivated by the desire to achieve, not by the desire to beat others.”
— Ayn Rand Primary source“A lie stands on one leg, truth on two.”
— Benjamin Franklin Primary source“One loses everything when one loses one’s sense of humor.”
— Ayn Rand Primary source“Spanish girls make wonderful wives. I’ve never had one so I know.”
— Ernest Hemingway Primary source“Most marriages don’t add two people together. They subtract one from the other.”
— Ian Fleming Primary source