Top 55 Ayn Rand Quotes

Civilization is the progress toward a society of privacy. The savage’s whole existence is public, ruled by the laws of his tribe. Civilization is the process of setting man free from men.The Fountainhead (1943), Part IV. Howard Roark, Chapter XVIII, Page 742

Freedom: To ask nothing. To expect nothing. To depend on nothing.The Fountainhead (1943), Part I. Peter Keating, Chapter XII, Page 149

The hardest thing to explain is the glaringly evident which everybody had decided not to see.The Fountainhead (1943), Part III. Gail Wyand, Chapter IX, Page 537

Integrity is the ability to stand by an idea.The Fountainhead (1943), Part II. Ellsworth M. Tooney, Chapter X, Page 333

One loses everything when one loses one’s sense of humor.The Fountainhead (1943), Part IV. Howard Roark, Chapter VII, Page 620

Self-respect is something that can’t be killed. The worst thing is to kill a man’s pretense at it.The Fountainhead (1943), Part III. Gail Wyand, Chapter II, Page 456

A quest for self-respect is proof of its lack.The Fountainhead (1943), Part III. Gail Wyand, Chapter III, Page 467

There are two sides to every issue: one side is right and the other is wrong, but the middle is always evil.

Power-lust is a weed that grows only in the vacant lots of an abandoned mind.

The secrets of this earth are not for all men to see, but only for those who will seek them.Anthem (1938), (ed. 1946), Chapter III, Page 54

I don’t intend to build in order to have clients. I intend to have clients in order to build.The Fountainhead (1943), Part I. Peter Keating, Chapter I, Page 20

If you don’t know, the thing to do is not to get scared, but to learn.Atlas Shrugged (1957), Part III. A is A, Chapter IV. Anti-Life, Page 874

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.Atlas Shrugged (1957), Part I. Non-Contradiction, Cahpter VII. The Exploiters and the Exploited, Page 199

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 men to live without breaking laws.Atlas Shrugged (1957), Part II. Either-Or, Chapter III. White Blackmail, Page 436

A house can have integrity, just like a person, and just as seldom.The Fountainhead (1943), Part I. Peter Keating, Chapter XI, Page 140

No speech is ever considered, but only the speaker. It’s so much easier to pass judgment on a man than on an idea.The Fountainhead (1943), Part II. Ellsworth M. Tooney, Chapter X, Page 333

It is not advisable to venture unsolicited opinions. You should spare yourself the embarrassing discovery of their exact value to your listener.Atlas Shrugged (1957), Part I. Non-Contradiction, Chapter V. The Climax of the D'Anconias, Page 99

There are no evil thoughts except one; the refusal to think.Atlas Shrugged (1957), Part II. Either-Or, Chapter II. The Aristocracy of Pull, Page 418

A creative man is motivated by the desire to achieve, not by the desire to beat others.The Ayn Rand Lexicon: Objectivism from A to Z (1986), Page 80

If one’s actions are honest, one does not need the predated confidence of others.Atlas Shrugged (1957), Part I. Non-Contradiction, Chapter VI. The Non-Commercial, Page 146

It’s simple to seek substitutes for competence – such easy substitutes: love, charm, kindness, charity. But there is no substitute for competence.The Fountainhead (1943), Part IV. Howard Roark, Chapter XI, Page 658

Men who reject the responsibility of thought and reason, can exist only as parasites on the thinking of others.The Virtue of Selfishness: A New Concept of Egoism (1964), Chapter 18. Counterfeit Individualism, Page 130

If any civilization is to survive, it is the morality of altruism that men have to reject.Philosophy: Who Needs It (1982), Chapter 7. Faith and Force: The Destroyers of the Modern World, Page 73

Within the extent of your knowledge, you are right.Atlas Shrugged (1957), Part II. Either-Or, Chapter IX. The Face Without Pain or Fear of Guilt, Page 641

Every man builds his world in his own image. He has the power to choose, but no power to escape the necessity of choice.Atlas Shrugged (1957), Part III. A is A, Chapter II. The Utopia of Greed, Page 791

DDean: My dear fellow, who will let you?
Roark: That’s not the point. The point is, who will stop me?The Fountainhead (1943), Part I. Peter Keating, Chapter I, Page 17

Ask yourself whether the dream of heaven and greatness should be left waiting for us in our graves – or whether it should be ours here and now and on this earth.Atlas Shrugged (1957), Part III. A is A, Chapter I. Atlantis, Page 735

I am. I think. I will.Anthem (1938), (ed. 1946), Chapter XI, Page 108

Do not let the hero in your soul perish, in lonely frustration for the life you deserved, but have never been able to reach. Check your road and the nature of your battle. The world you desired can be won, it exists, it is real, it is possible, it’s yours.

The man who damns money has obtained it dishonorably; the man who respects it has earned it.Atlas Shrugged (1957), Part II. Either-Or, Chapter II. The Aristocracy of Pull, Part 412

Money is only a tool. It will take you wherever you wish, but it will not replace you as the driver.Atlas Shrugged (1957), Part II. Either-Or, Chapter II. The Aristocracy of Pull, Page 411

Money demands that you sell, not your weakness to men’s stupidity, but your talent to their reason.Atlas Shrugged (1957), Part II. Either-Or, Chapter II. The Aristocracy of Pull, Page 411

Money will not purchase happiness for the man who has no concept of what he wants.Atlas Shrugged (1957), Part II. Either-Or, Chapter II. The Aristocracy of Pull, Page 411

Wealth is the product of man’s capacity to think.Atlas Shrugged (1957), Part II. Either-Or, Chapter II. The Aristocracy of Pull, Page 411

Only the man who does not need it, is fit to inherit wealth – the man who would make his own fortune no matter where he started.Atlas Shrugged (1957), Part II. Either-Or, Chapter II. The Aristocracy of Pull, Page 412

What greater wealth is there than to own your Me and to spend it on growing? Every living thing must grow. It can’t stand still. It must grow or perish.Atlas Shrugged (1957), Part III. A is A, Chapter I. Atlantis, Page 722

But, you see, the measure of the hell you’re able to endure is the measure of your love.Atlas Shrugged (1957), Part III. A is A, Chapter II. The Utopia of Greed, Page 808

Love is our response to our highest values – and can be nothing else.Atlas Shrugged (1957), Part II. Either-Or, Chapter IV. The Sanction of the Victiom, Page 490

If you tell a beautiful woman that she is beautiful, what have you given her? It’s no more than a fact and it has cost you nothing. But if you teli an ugly woman that she is beautiful, you offer her the great homage of corrupting the concept of beauty. To love a woman for her virtues is meaningless. She’s earned it, it’s a payment, not a gift. But to love her for her vices is a real gift, unearned and undeserved. To love her for her vices is to defile all virtue for her sake – and that is a real tribute of love, because you sacrifice your conscience, your reason, your integrity and your invaluable self-esteem.Atlas Shrugged (1957), Part I. Non-Contradiction, Chapter X. Wyatt's Torch, Page 305

To say “I love you” one must know first how to say the “I”.The Fountainhead (1943), Part II. Ellsworth M. Tooney, Chapter XIV, Page 400

What is man? He’s just a collection of chemicals with delusions of grandeur.Atlas Shrugged (1957), Part I. Non-Contradiction, Chapter VI. The Non-Commercial, Page 131

The man who lets a leader prescribe his course is a wreck being towed to the scrap heap.

Man is the only living species that has the power to act as his own destroyer – and that is the way he has acted through most of his history.The Virtue of Selfishness: A New Concept of Egoism (1964), Chapter 1. The Objectivist Ethics, Page 19

The man who does not value himself, cannot value anything or anyone.The Virtue of Selfishness: A New Concept of Egoism (1964), Chapter 1. The Objectivist Ethics, Page 28

The man who speaks to you of sacrifice, speaks of slaves and masters. And intends to be the master.The Fountainhead (1943), Part IV. Howard Roark, Chapter XIV, Page 692

A viler evil than to murder a man, is to sell him suicide as an act of virtue.Atlas Shrugged (1957), Part II. Either-Or, Part III. White Blackmail, Page 455

Live and act within the limit of your knowledge and keep expanding it to the limit of your life.

It is not death that we wish to avoid, but life that we wish to live.

Learn to value yourself, which means: to fight for your happiness.

Every form of happiness is private. Our greatest moments are personal, self-motivated, not to be touched.The Fountainhead (1943), Part IV. Howard Roark, Chapter XI, Page 660

Joy is the goal of existence, and joy is not to be stumbled upon, but to be achieved, and the act of treason is to let its vision drown in the swamp of the moment’s torture.Atlas Shrugged (1957), Part III. A is A, Chapter V. Their Brothers' Keepers, Page 931

The purpose of morality is to teach you, not to suffer and die, but to enjoy yourself and live.

Force and mind are opposites; morality ends where a gun begins.

The worst guilt is to accept an undeserved guilt – and that is what you have been doing all your life.Atlas Shrugged (1957), Part II. Either-Or, Chapter III. White Blackmail, Page 455

Guilt is a rope that wears thin.Atlas Shrugged (1957), Part III. A is A, Chapter IV. Anti-Life, Page 895

The ladder of success is best climbed by stepping on the rungs of opportunity.No source

The truth is not for all men, but only for those who seek it. No source