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Happiness is a state of non-contradictory joy . . . Happiness is possible only to a rational man, the man who desires nothing but rational goals, seeks nothing but rational values, and finds his joy in nothing but rational actions.

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
Men
Goal
Seeks
State
Finds
Happiness
Desires
Values
Goals
Desire
Rational
Action
Actions
States
Joy
Nothing
Possible
Contradictory

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The great creators-the thinkers, the artists, the scientists, the inventors-stood alone against the men of their time.
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This god, this one word: I.
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Courage and confidence are practical necessities . . . courage is the practical form of being true to existence, of being true to truth, and confidence is the practical form of being true to one’s own consciousness.
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Racism is the lowest, most crudely primitive form of collectivism.
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Genius is an exaggeration of dimension. So is elephantiasis. Both may be only a disease.
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Any material element or resource which, in order to become of use or value to men, requires the application of human knowledge and effort, should be private property-by the right of those who apply the knowledge and effort.
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Love, friendship, respect, admiration are the emotional response of one man to the virtues of another, the spiritual payment given in exchange for the personal, selfish pleasure which one man derives from the virtues of another man’s character.
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Mysticism requires the notion of the unknowable, which is revealed to some and withheld from others this divides men into those who feel guilt and those who cash in on it.
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Without property rights, no other rights are possible.
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I would give the greatest sunset in the world for one sight of New York's skyline.
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The sky is like a black sieve pierced by silver drops that tremble, ready to burst through.
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Statism needs war a free country does not. Statism survives by looting a free country survives by producing.
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There is nothing to take a man’s freedom away from him, save other men.
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The alleged short-cut to knowledge, which is faith, is only a short-circuit destroying the mind
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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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Learn to distinguish the difference between errors of knowledge and breaches of morality
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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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The man without a purpose is a man who drifts at the mercy of random feelings or unidentified urges and is capable of any evil, because he is totally out of control of his own life. In order to be in control of your life, you have to have a purpose-a productive purpose.
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