Ideas, in a free society, are not a crime- and neither can they serve as the justification of a crime. Ayn Rand More Quotes by Ayn Rand More Quotes From Ayn Rand Government control of the economy, no matter in whose behalf, has been the source of all the evils in our industrial society -- and the solution is laissez-faire capitalism, i.e., the abolition of any and all forms of intervention in production and trade, the separation of State and Economics, in the same way and for the same reasons as the separation of Church and State. Ayn Rand governmentchurchevil I can say-not as a patriotic bromide, but with full knowledge of the necessary metaphysical, epistemological , ethical, political and esthetic roots-that the United States of America is the greatest, the noblest and, in its original founding principles, the only moral country in the history of the world. Ayn Rand patrioticrootscountry One of the methods used by statists to destroy capitalism consists in establishing controls that tie a given industry hand and foot, making it unable to solve its problems, then declaring that freedom has failed and stronger controls are necessary. Ayn Rand tiesfeethands Since there is no such entity as 'the public,' since the public is merely a number of individuals, the idea that 'the public interest' supersedes private interests and rights can have but one meaning: that the interests and rights of some individuals take precedence over the interests and rights of others. Ayn Rand rightsnumbersideas 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. Ayn Rand gunwinningmean Run for your life from any man who tells you that money is evil. That sentence is the leper's bell of an approaching looter. Ayn Rand fake-peoplerunninglife As we gain knowledge, we do not become more certain, we become certain of more. Ayn Rand gainscertain When you have established that one alternative is good and the other is evil, there is no justification for the choice of a mixture. There is no justification ever for choosing any part of what you know to be evil. Ayn Rand alternativeschoicesevil Racism is the lowest, most crudely primitive form of collectivism. Ayn Rand primitiveformracism The man who speaks to you of sacrifice, speaks of slaves and masters. And intends to be the master. Ayn Rand sacrificelibertymen Any alleged 'right' of one man, which necessitates the violation of the rights of another, is not and cannot be a right. Ayn Rand violationrightsmen What greater wealth is there than to own your life and to spend it on growing? Every living thing must grow. It can't stand still. It must grow or perish. Ayn Rand novelistsmoneylife There’s no way to rule innocent men. The only power any government has is the power to crack down on criminals. Well, when there aren’t enough criminals, one makes them. One declares so many things to be a crime that it becomes impossible for me to live without breaking laws. Who wants a nation of law-abiding citizens? What’s there in that for anyone? But just pass the kind of laws that can neither be observed or enforced nor objectively interpreted - and you create a nation of law-breakers - and then you cash in on guilt. Ayn Rand innocent-manlawmen The goal of the 'liberals' - as it emerges from the record of the past decades - was to smuggle this country into welfare statism by means of single, concrete, specific measures, enlarging the power of the government a step at a time, never permitting these steps to be summed up into principles, never permitting their direction to be identified or the basic issue to be named. Thus, statism was to come, not by vote or by violence, but by slow rot - by a long process of evasion and epistemological corruption, leading to a fait accompli. Ayn Rand meancountrypast Creation comes before distribution -- or there will be nothing to distribute. Ayn Rand fountainheadcreationpolitical To sell your soul is the easiest thing in the world. That's what everybody does every hour of his life. If I asked you to keep your soul - would you understand why that's much harder? Ayn Rand souldoeinspirational To say ‘I love you’ one must first know how to say the ‘I.’ The meaning of the ‘I’ is an independent, self-sufficient entity that does not exist for the sake of any other person. A person who exists only for the sake of his loved one is not an independent entity, but a spiritual parasite. The love of a parasite is worth nothing. Ayn Rand i-love-youindependentspiritual Civilization is the process of setting man free from men. Ayn Rand progress-of-societymencivilization My philosophy, in essence, is the concept of man as a heroic being, with his own happiness as the moral purpose of his life, with productive achievement as his noblest activity, and reason as his only absolute. Ayn Rand menphilosophylife No one's happiness but my own is in my power to achieve or to destroy. Ayn Rand overcoming-addictionpowerhappiness
