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If the rest of them can survive only by destroying us, then why should we wish them to survive? . . . Nothing can make it moral to destroy the best. One can't be punished for being good. One can't be penalized for ability.

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
Ability
Wish
Penalized
Best
Punished
Nothing
Destroying
Make
Survive
Good
Destroy
Rest
Moral

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An artist recreates those aspects of reality which represent his fundamental view of man's nature.
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Capitalism is a social system based on the recognition of individual rights, including property rights, in which all property is privately owned.
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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?
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I swear, by my life and my love of it, that I will never live for the sake of another man, nor ask another man to live for mine.
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Life is the reward of virtue. And happiness is the goal and reward of life.
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If you agree with some tenets of Objectivism, but disagree with others, do not call yourself an Objectivist give proper authorship credit for the parts you agree with
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Place nothing above the verdict of your own mind.
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The desire not to be anything is the desire not to be.
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To abstain from condemning a torturer, is to become an accessory to the torture and murder of his victims.
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The quickest way to kill the human spirit is to ask someone to do mediocre work.
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There's nothing of any importance in life — except how well you do your work. Nothing. Only that. Whatever else you are, will come from that. It's the only measure of human value.
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The basic need of the creator is independence. The reasoning mind cannot work under any form of compulsion. It cannot be curbed, sacrificed or subordinated to any consideration whatsoever. It demands total independence in function and in motive.
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Whenever destroyers appear among men, they start by destroying money, for money is men's protection, and the base of a moral existence.
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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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I love you so much that nothing can matter to me - not even you...Only my love- not your answer. Not even your indifference
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I guard my treasures: my thoughts, my will, my freedom. And the greatest of these is freedom.
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The uncontested absurdities of today are the accepted slogans of tomorrow. They come to be accepted by degrees, by dint of constant pressure on one side and constant retreat on the other - until one day when they are suddenly declared to be the country's official ideology.
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