If it's worth doing, it's worth overdoing. Ayn Rand More Quotes by Ayn Rand More Quotes From Ayn Rand Don't think. Believe. Trust your heart, not your brain. Don't think. Feel. Believe. Ayn Rand heartbelievethinking It is true that the welfare-statists are not socialists, that they never advocated or intended the socialization of private property, that they want to 'preserve' private property-with government control of its use and disposal. But that is the fundamental characteristic of fascism. Ayn Rand libertygovernmentuse The government's only proper job is to protect individual rights against violence by force or fraud ... to protect men from foreign invaders ... to settle disputes among men according to objective laws ... The greatness of the Founding Fathers was how well they understood this issue and how close some of them came to understanding it perfectly. Ayn Rand greatnessjobsfather A reader has to be concerned only with the end result; unless he chooses to analyze it, he does not have to know by what means that result was achieved-but it is my job to know. Ayn Rand writingjobsmean Because, you see, God - whatever anyone chooses to call God - is one's highest conception of the highest possible. And whoever places his highest conception above his own possibility thinks very little of himself and his life. It's a rare gift, you know, to feel reverence for your own life and to want the best, the greatest, the highest possible, here, now, for your very own. To imagine a heaven and then not to dream of it, but to demand it. Ayn Rand dreammotivationalinspirational I shall choose friends among men, but neither slaves nor masters. And I shall choose only such as please me, and them I shall love and respect, but neither command nor obey. And we shall join our hands when we wish, or walk alone when we so desire. Ayn Rand please-memenhands Self-esteem is reliance on one's power to think. It cannot be replaced by one's power to deceive. The self-confidence of a scientist and the self-confidence of a con man are not interchangeable states, and do not come from the same psychological universe. The success of a man who deals with reality augments his self-confidence. The success of a con man augments his panic. Ayn Rand confidenceself-esteemmen A building has integrity just like a man. And just as seldom. Ayn Rand architectureintegritymen Have you felt it too? Have you seen how your best friends love everything about you- except the things that count? And your most important is nothing to them; nothing, not even a sound they can recognize. Ayn Rand friend-loveimportantsound I love you, Dominique. As selfishly as the fact that I exist. As selfishly as my lungs breathe air. I breathe for my own necessity, for the fuel of my body, for my survival. I've given you, not my sacrifice or my pity, but my ego and my naked need. This is the only way I can want you to love me. Ayn Rand sacrificeairlove-you The great creators-the thinkers, the artists, the scientists, the inventors-stood alone against the men of their time. Ayn Rand fountainheadartistmen Every period ruled by mystics was an era of stagnation and want, when most men were on strike against existence. Ayn Rand eraswantmen I regret nothing. There have been things I missed, but I ask no questions, because I have loved it, such as it has been, even the moments of emptiness, even the unanswered-and that I loved it, that is the unanswered in my life. Ayn Rand emptinessregretmoments Rationalization is a process of not perceiving reality, but of attempting to make reality fit one’s emotions. Ayn Rand fitemotionreality Morality is a code of black and white. When and if men attempt a compromise, it is obvious which side will necessarily lose and which will necessarily profit. Ayn Rand black-and-whitesidesmen Now take a human body. Why wouldn't you like to see a human body with a curling tail with a crest of ostrich feathers at the end? And with ears shaped like acanthus leaves? It would be ornamental, you know, instead of the stark, bare ugliness we have now. Well, why don't you like the idea? Because it would be useless and pointless. Because the beauty of the human body is that is hasn't a single muscle which doesn't serve its purpose; that there's not a line wasted; that every detail of it fits one idea, the idea of a man and the life of a man. Ayn Rand ostrichesmenideas We [entrepreneurs] required that you leave us free to function -- free to think and work as we choose ... -- free to earn our own profits and make our own fortunes ... Such was the price we asked, which you chose to reject as too high. Ayn Rand entrepreneursciencethinking In the temple of his spirit, each man is alone. Ayn Rand templesspiritmen Did it ever occur to you, that there is no conflict of interests among men, neither in business nor in trade nor in their most personal desires - if they omit the irrational from their view of the possible and destruction from their view of the practical? Ayn Rand businessviewsmen Paper is a check drawn by legal looters upon an account which is not theirs: upon the virtue of the victims. Watch for the day when it bounces, marked: 'Account Overdrawn.' Ayn Rand politicalpaperwatches
