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If a drought strikes them, animals perish--man builds irrigation canals if a flood strikes them, animals perish--man builds dams if a carnivorous pack attacks them, animals perish--man writes the Constitution of the United States.

Ayn Rand

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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
United
Packs
Carnivorous
States
Attacks
Irrigation
Writing
Writes
Dams
Men
Flood
Canals
Strikes
Drought
Animals
Builds
Constitution
Perish
Animal
Pack

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The only proper purpose of a government is to protect man's rights, which means: to protect him from physical violence. A proper government is only a policeman, acting as an agent of man's self-defense, and, as such, may only resort to force only against those who start the use of force.
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An emotion is an automatic response, an automatic effect of man's value premises. An effect, not a cause. There is no necessary clash, no dichotomy between man's reason and his emotions
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Honor is self-esteem made visible in action.
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Men have been taught that it is a virtue to stand together. But the creator is the man who stands alone.
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I am interested in politics only in order to secure and protect freedom.
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We can evade reality, but we cannot evade the consequences of evading reality
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Many words have been granted me, and some are wise, and some are false, but only three are holy: I will it!
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The more propaganda . . . conservatives spread for capitalist economics while at the same time preaching collectivism morally and philosophically , the more nails they’ll drive into capitalism’s coffin.
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She stood at the window, her arms spread wide, holding on to each side of the frame, it was as if she held a piece of the city.
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Faith is the wors curse of mankind, as the exact antithesis and enemy of thought.
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He despised causeless affection, just as he despised unearned wealth. They professed to love him for some unknown reason and they ignored all the things for which he could wish to be loved.
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Rationalization is a process of not perceiving reality, but of attempting to make reality fit one’s emotions.
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Capitalism has been called a system of greed—yet it is the system that raised the standard of living of its poorest citizens to heights no collectivist system has ever begun to equal, and no tribal gang can conceive of.
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You seek escape from pain. We seek the achievement of happiness. You exist for the sake of avoiding punishment. We exist for the sake of earning rewards. Threats will not make us function fear is not our incentive. It is not death that we wish to avoid, but life that we wish to live
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Humor is not an unconditional virtue its moral character depends on its object. To laugh at the contemptible, is a virtue to laugh at the good, is a hideous vice. Too often, humor is used as the camouflage of moral cowardice.
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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.
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Love is not self-sacrifice, but the most profound assertion of your own needs and values. It is for your own happiness that you need the person you love, and that is the greatest compliment, the greatest tribute you can pay to that person.
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There are no evil thoughts except one the refusal to think.
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It's the person who would sell his soul for a nickel, who is loudest in proclaiming his hatred of money.
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To say 'I love you' one must first be able to say the 'I.'
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