Share
×
Inspirational Quotes
Authors
Professions
Topics
Tags
Quote
But what man does out of despair, is not necessarily a key to his character. I have always thought that the real key is in that which he seeks for his enjoyment.
Ayn Rand
Share
Change background
T
T
T
Change font
Original
TAGS & TOPICS
Ayn Rand
Age: 77 †
Born: 1905
Born: February 2
Died: 1982
Died: March 6
Essayist
Journalist
Literary Critic
Novelist
Philosopher
Playwright
Science Fiction Writer
Screenwriter
St. Petersburg
Alisa Zinov'yevna Rosenbaum
Despair
Keys
Thought
Doe
Character
Real
Seeks
Always
Enjoyment
Men
Necessarily
More quotes by Ayn Rand
A rational man knows-or makes it a point to discover-the source of his emotions, the basic premises from which they come.
Ayn Rand
America's abundance was not created by public sacrifices to the common good, but by the productive genius of free men who pursued their own personal interests and the making of their own private fortunes.
Ayn Rand
It is my eyes which see, and the sight of my eyes grants beauty to the earth.
Ayn Rand
Self-sacrifice? But it is precisely the self that cannot and must not be sacrificed.
Ayn Rand
When a man declares: There are no blacks and whites [in morality] he is making a psychological confession, and what he means is: I am unwilling to be wholly good - and please don't regard me as wholly evil!
Ayn Rand
The man who speaks to you of sacrifice, speaks of slaves and masters. And intends to be the master.
Ayn Rand
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
An idea is a light turned on in a man's soul. Comic-strip artists are in the habit of representing it by means of a light bulb flashing on, above the head of a character who has suddenly grasped an idea. In simple, primitive terms, this is an appropriate symbol.
Ayn Rand
The only power any government has is the power to crack down on criminals. Well, when there aren
Ayn Rand
Do you know the hallmark of the second-rater? It's resentment of another man's achievement.
Ayn Rand
What is morality, she asked. Judgement to distinguish right and wrong, vision to see the truth, and courage to act upon it, dedication to that which is good, integrity to stand by the good at any price.
Ayn Rand
The desire not to be anything is the desire not to be.
Ayn Rand
This was the great clarity of being beyond emotion, after the reward of having felt everything one could feel.
Ayn Rand
The truly and deliberately evil men are a very small minority it is the appeaser who unleashes them on mankind.
Ayn Rand
Self-esteem is reliance on ones power to think.
Ayn Rand
The government was set to protect man from criminals-and the constitution was written to protect man from the government. The Bill of Rights was not directed at private citizens, but against the government-as an explicit declaration that individual rights supersede any public or social power.
Ayn Rand
Degrees do not matter... one does not bargain about inches of evil.
Ayn Rand
Those who say theory and practice are two unrelated realms are fools in one and scoundrels in the other.
Ayn Rand
Any work is creative work if done by a thinking mind.
Ayn Rand
I got the idea [for Anthem's theme] in my school days, in Soviet Russia, when I heard all the vicious attacks on individualism, and asked myself what the world would be like if men lost the word 'I.'
Ayn Rand