Ayn Rand Quotes & Sayings
These quotes by Ayn Rand are both interesting and thought-provoking. Not only for their time, but still to this day.
Ayn Rand (1905 – 1982) was a 20th-century Russian / American writer and philosopher, known originally for her fiction novels The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged.
What was Ayn Rand’s philosophy?
Ayn Rand developed a new set of philosophical principles she called Objectivism.
These ideas presented a radical break from the materialism and collectivism that had dominated Western culture for over a century. In its place, Ayn Rand offered a view of existence in which individual human beings—each with their own personal goals, reasons, and values—are the fundamental reality.
The core of Objectivism is a rational view of the world. Reality exists independently of our hopes, fears, or desires. The job of thinking men and women everywhere is to observe reality as it is and then discover what actions they must take in order to deal with that reality successfully—because success in life is the proper moral purpose of every individual.
Ayn Rand Quotes
“Do not let your fire go out, spark by irreplaceable spark in the hopeless swamps of the not-quite, the not-yet, and the not-at-all. Do not let the hero in your soul perish in lonely frustration for the life you deserved and have never been able to reach. The world you desire can be won. It exists.. it is real.. it is possible.. it’s yours.” Ayn Rand
“If you don’t know, the thing to do is not to get scared, but to learn.” Ayn Rand
“Happiness is that state of consciousness which proceeds from the achievement of one’s values.” Ayn Rand
“Why do they always teach us that it’s easy and evil to do what we want and that we need discipline to restrain ourselves? It’s the hardest thing in the world–to do what we want. And it takes the greatest kind of courage. I mean, what we really want.” Ayn Rand
“The ladder of success is best climbed by stepping on the rungs of opportunity.” Ayn Rand
“People think that a liar gains a victory over his victim. What I’ve learned is that a lie is an act of self-abdication, because one surrenders one’s reality to the person to whom one lies, making that person one’s master, condemning oneself from then on to faking the sort of reality that person’s view requires to be faked…The man who lies to the world, is the world’s slave from then on…There are no white lies, there is only the blackest of destruction, and a white lie is the blackest of all.” Ayn Rand
“A creative man is motivated by the desire to achieve, not by the desire to beat others.” Ayn Rand
“Throughout the centuries there were men who took first steps, down new roads, armed with nothing but their own vision.” Ayn Rand
“Contradictions do not exist. Whenever you think that you are facing a contradiction, check your premises. You will find that one of them is wrong.” Ayn Rand
Ayn Rand Famous Quotes
“The question isn’t who is going to let me; it’s who is going to stop me.” Ayn Rand (quoted via her book The Fountainhead)
“Achievement of your happiness is the only moral purpose of your life, and that happiness, not pain or mindless self-indulgence, is the proof of your moral integrity, since it is the proof and the result of your loyalty to the achievement of your values.” Ayn Rand
“A creative man is motivated by the desire to achieve, not by the desire to beat others.” Ayn Rand
Ayn Rand Quotes on Self
“Learn to value yourself, which means fight for your happiness.” Ayn Rand
“To say “I love you” one must know first how to say the “I”.” Ayn Rand
“The man who does not value himself, cannot value anything or anyone.” Ayn Rand
“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?” Ayn Rand
Ayn Rand Quotes On Government & Capitalism
“We are fast approaching the stage of the ultimate inversion: the stage where the government is free to do anything it pleases, while the citizens may act only by permission, which is the stage of the darkest periods of human history, the stage of rule by brute force.” Ayn Rand
“Individual rights are not subject to a public vote; a majority has no right to vote away the rights of a minority; the political function of rights is precisely to protect minorities from oppression by majorities (and the smallest minority on earth is the individual).” Ayn Rand
“Government ‘help’ to business is just as disastrous as government persecution… the only way a government can be of service to national prosperity is by keeping its hands off.” Ayn Rand
“Let me give you a tip on a clue to men’s characters: the man who damns money has obtained it dishonorably; the man who respects it has earned it.” Ayn Rand
“Money is the barometer of a society’s virtue.” Ayn Rand
“Money is only a tool. It will take you wherever you wish, but it will not replace you as the driver.” Ayn Rand
“Upper classes are a nation’s past; the middle class is its future.” Ayn Rand
Interested in more inspirational and famous quotes, be sure to check out:
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- 28 Inspirational Frederick Douglass Quotes
- 34 of The Best Henry Ford Quotes
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- Tenacity Quotes To Inspire Persistence & Success
- Carl Jung Quotes (Shadows, Acceptance & A Fulfilled Life)
- Joseph Campbell Quotes On Life & Following Your Bliss
