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We the Living is not a novel 'about Soviet Russia.' It is a novel about Man against the State. Its basic theme is the sanctity of human life - using the word 'sanctity' not in a mystical sense, but in the sense of 'supreme value.'

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
Humans
Novel
Mystical
Men
Word
Soviet
Life
State
Theme
Values
Basic
Living
Russia
Sense
Supreme
States
Using
Human
Value
Sanctity

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He walked, groping for a sentence that hung in his mind as an empty shape. He could neither fill it or dismiss it.
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Living in a society, instead of on a desert island, does not relieve a man of the responsibility of supporting his own life.
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If one doesn't respect oneself one can have neither love nor respect for others.
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It's not about who's going to let me it's about who's going to stop me.
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Don't rely on our knowledge of what's best for your future. We do know, but it can't be best until you know it.
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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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To deal with men by force is as impractical as to deal with nature by persuasion.
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The right to vote is a consequence, not a primary cause, of a free social system - and its value depends on the constitutional structure implementing and strictly delimiting the voters' power unlimited majority rule is an instance of the principle of tyranny.
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If, before undertaking some action, you must obtain the permission of society-you are not free, whether such permission is granted to you or not. Only a slave acts on permission. A permission is not a right.
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There is no such dichotomy as 'human rights' versus 'property rights.' No human rights can exist without property rights.
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Did it ever occur to you, that there is no conflict of interests among men, neither in business nor in trade nor in their most personal desires - if they omit the irrational from their view of the possible and destruction from their view of the practical?
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I think, therefore I'll think.
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Man is a being with free will therefore, each man is potentially good or evil, and it's up to him and only him (through his reasoning mind) to decide which he wants to be.
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Politically, the goal of today’s dominant trend is statism. Philosophically, the goal is the obliteration of reason psychologically, it is the erosion of ambition.
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Emotions are inherent in your nature, but their content is dictated by your mind. Your emotional capacity is an empty motor, and your values are the fuel with which your mind fills it.
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But what man does out of despair, is not necessarily a key to his character. I have always thought that the real key is in that which he seeks for his enjoyment.
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We [entrepreneurs] required that you leave us free to function -- free to think and work as we choose ... -- free to earn our own profits and make our own fortunes ... Such was the price we asked, which you chose to reject as too high.
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Aquinas brought an Aristotelian view of reason back into European culture, and lighted the way toward the Renaissance.
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The social system based on and consonant with the altruist morality-with the code of self-sacrifice- is socialism, in all or any of its variants: fascism, Nazism, communism. All of them treat man as a sacrificial animal to be immolated for the benefit of the group, the tribe, the society, the state.
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Happiness is that state of consciousness which proceeds from the achievement of one's values.
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