“Why is it immoral for you to desire, but moral for others to do so? Why is it immoral to produce a value and keep it, but moral to give it away? And if it is not moral for you to keep a value, why is it moral for others to accept it? If you are selfless and virtuous when you give it, are they not selfish and vicious when they take it?”
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“Who will let you? That’s not the point. The point is, who will stop me?”
— 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“A creative man is motivated by the desire to achieve, not by the desire to beat others.”
— Ayn Rand Primary source“We may give advice, but we cannot give conduct.”
— Benjamin Franklin Primary source“The best way to keep one’s word is not to give it.”
— Napoleon Bonaparte Disputed“It is better to take many injuries, than to give one.”
— Benjamin Franklin Primary source“Every path but your own is the path of fate. Keep on your own track, then.”
— Henry David Thoreau Primary source