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Virtue is not an end in itself. Virtue is not its own reward or sacrificial fodder for the reward of evil. Life is the reward of virtue-and happiness is the goal and the reward of life.

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
Happiness
Evil
Ends
Sacrificial
Life
Fodder
Reward
Rewards
Virtue
Goal

More quotes by Ayn Rand

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The charming aspect of Christmas is the fact that it expresses good will in a cheerful, happy, benevolent, non-sacrificial way. One says: “Merry Christmas”-not “Weep and Repent.” And the good will is expressed in a material, earthly form-by giving presents to one's friends, or by sending them cards in token of remembrance . . . .
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The desire not to be anything is the desire not to be.
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I could die for you. But I couldn't, and wouldn't, live for you.
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Faith is the wors curse of mankind, as the exact antithesis and enemy of thought.
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You love people, not for what you do for them or what they do for you. You love them for their values their virtues.
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The man who refuses to judge, who neither agrees nor disagrees, who declares that there are no absolutes and believes that he escapes responsibility, is the man responsible for all the blood that is now spilled in the world
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I am opposed to all forms of control. I am for an absolute, laissez-faire, free, unregulated economy.
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A building has integrity, just as a man and just as seldom! It must be true to its own idea, have its own form, and serve its own purpose!
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You have no choice about your capacity to feel that something is good for you or evil, but what you will consider good or evil, what will give you joy or pain, what you will love or hate, desire or fear, depends on your standard of value.
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She thought: at this moment, the glass stem between his fingers feels just like the one between mine. We have this much in common.
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I am only concerned with politics so I may see the day when I don't have to be concerned with politics.
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My dear fellow, who will let you? That's not the point. The point is, who will stop me?
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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.
Ayn Rand
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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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The evil of the world is made possible by nothing but the sanction you give it.
Ayn Rand
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Live a life as a monument to your soul.
Ayn Rand
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I cannot stand Tolstoy, and reading him was the most boring literary duty I ever had to perform, his philosophy and his sense of life are not merely mistaken, but evil, and yet, from a purely literary viewpoint, on his own terms, I have to evaluate him as a good writer.
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It's such a waste to be subtle and vicious with people who don't even know that you're being subtle and vicious
Ayn Rand
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Do not keep silent when your own ideas and values are being attacked. If a dictatorship ever comes to this country, it will be by the fault of those who keep silent. We are still free enough to speak. Do we have time? No one can tell.
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Man's unique reward, however, is that while animals survive by adjusting themselves to their background, man survives by adjusting his background to himself.
Ayn Rand