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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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[Altruism] is a moral system which holds that man has no right to exist for his own sake, that service to others is the sole justification of his existence, and that self-sacrifice is his highest moral duty, value and virtue. This is the moral base of collectivism, of all dictatorships.
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There can be no compromise on moral principles.
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Inflation is not caused by the actions of private citizens, but by the government: by an artificial expansion of the money supply required to support deficit spending. No private embezzlers or bank robbers in history have ever plundered people's savings on a scale comparable to the plunder perpetrated by the fiscal policies of statist governments.
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Hank, this is great. Yes. He said it simply, openly. There was no flattered pleasure in his voice, and no modesty. This, she knew, was a tribute to her, the rarest one person could pay another: the tribute of feeling free to acknowledge one's own greatness, knowing that it is understood.
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Style is not an end in itself, it is only a means to an end - the means of telling a story.
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I think. I am. I will.
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A good quotation must be a complete entity. It must be like a headline - sharp, clear, whole.
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As long as men are free to speak, a small, rational minority will always prevail over an irrational majority.
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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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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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Existence is Identity, Consciousness is Identification.
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A rational man knows-or makes it a point to discover-the source of his emotions, the basic premises from which they come.
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In the name of the values that keep you alive, do not let your vision of man be distorted by the ugly, the cowardly, the mindless in those who have never achieved his title. Do not lose your knowledge that man’s proper estate is an upright posture, an intransigent mind and a step that travels unlimited roads.
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The right to life means that a man has the right to support his life by his own work (on any economic level, as high as his ability will carry him) it does not mean that others must provide him with the necessities of life.
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Aristotle may be regarded as the cultural barometer of Western history. Whenever his influence dominated the scene, it paved the way for one of history's brilliant eras whenever it fell, so did mankind.
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Everyone has the right to make his own decisions, but none has the right to force his decision on others.
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Never ask people about your work.
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When you force a man to act against his own choice and judgment, it's his thinking that you want him to suspend.
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Civilization does not have to perish. The brutes are winning only by default.
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