Ayn Rand and/or Atlas Shrugged Quotes to ponder

[Lando Lincoln]

"To the glory of mankind, there was, for the first and only time in history, a country of money—and I have no higher, more reverent tribute to pay to America, for this means: a country of reason, justice, freedom, production, achievement. For the first time, man’s mind and money were set free, and there were no fortunes-by-conquest, but only fortunes-by-work, and instead of swordsmen and slaves, there appeared the real maker of wealth, the greatest worker, the highest type of human being—the self-made man—the American industrialist.

If you ask me to name the proudest distinction of Americans, I would choose—because it contains all the others—the fact that they were the people who created the phrase “to make money.” No other language or nation had ever used these words before; men had always thought of wealth as a static quantity—to be seized, begged, inherited, shared, looted or obtained as a favor. Americans were the first to understand that wealth has to be created."
Atlas Shrugged - Part 2, Chapter2

[Lando Lincoln]

"It is your mind that they want you to surrender—all those who preach the creed of sacrifice, whatever their tags or their motives, whether they demand it for the sake of your soul or of your body, whether they promise you another life in heaven or a full stomach on this earth. Those who start by saying: 'It is selfish to pursue your own wishes, you must sacrifice them to the wishes of others'—end up by saying: 'It is selfish to uphold your convictions, you must sacrifice them to the convictions of others.'"
Atlas Shrugged - Part 3, Chapter 7

[Lando Lincoln]

“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.”
Atlas Shrugged - Part 3, Chapter 7

[Lando Lincoln]

“Man has been called a rational being, but rationality is a matter of choice... Man has to be a man–by choice; he has to hold his life as a value–by choice; he has to learn to sustain it–by choice; he has to discover the values it requires and practice his virtues by choice. A code of values accepted by choice is a code of morality.”
Atlas Shrugged
Part 3, Chapter 7

Our guy in the White House... maybe not so much...

[aligncare]

There's no way to rule innocent men. The only power any government has is to crack down on criminals. Well, when there aren't enough criminals, one makes them. One declares so many things to be a crime that it becomes impossible for men to live without breaking laws.
Atlas Shrugged Part 2, Chapter 3

I cannot even begin to tell you how much truth there is in that statement.

America's been heading down this road too long. Michael Bloomberg, anyone?

[Lando Lincoln]

"...People don't want to think. And the deeper they get into trouble, the less they want to think. But by some sort of instinct, they feel that they ought to and it makes them feel guilty. So they'll bless and follow anyone who gives them a justification for not thinking. Anyone who makes a virtue — a highly intellectual virtue — out of what they know to be their sin, their weakness and their guilt."

Atlas Shrugged - Part 2, Chapter 2

[Rapunzel]

Ayn Rand: Communism proposes to enslave by force, socialism by vote. It is merely the difference between murder & suicide.

[DCPatriot]

Wonderful thread!

[Lando Lincoln]

Wonderful thread!

 

[Lando Lincoln]

"It is your mind that they want you to surrender—all those who preach the creed of sacrifice, whatever their tags or their motives, whether they demand it for the sake of your soul or of your body, whether they promise you another life in heaven or a full stomach on this earth. Those who start by saying: “It is selfish to pursue your own wishes, you must sacrifice them to the wishes of others”—end up by saying: “It is selfish to uphold your convictions, you must sacrifice them to the convictions of others."
Atlas Shrugged - Part 3, Chapter 7

[Lando Lincoln]

"I win by means of nothing but logic and I surrender to nothing but logic."
Atlas Shrugged

[Lando Lincoln]

"If devotion to the truth is the hallmark of morality, then there is no greater, nobler, more heroic form of devotion than the act of a man who assumes the responsibility of thinking." - John Galt (Atlas Shrugged)

[Lando Lincoln]

"America is the land of the uncommon man.  It is the land where man is free to develop his genius - and reap its just rewards.  It is the land where each man tries to develop whatever qualities he may possess and to rise to whatever degree he can, great or modest.  It is not the land where one glories or is taught to glory in one's mediocrity.  No self-respecting man is or thinks of himself as "little", no matter how poor he may be."

- Ayn Rand

Lando: We know the self-loathing of the left vehemently opposes this notion.

[DCPatriot]

Always enjoy your chosen quotes on this thread, Lando!

It's a good one!

[Lando Lincoln]

Always enjoy your chosen quotes on this thread, Lando!

It's a good one!

Thanks DCP.   

[EC]

THREADJACK!!!!!

Don't try to have the last word -- you might get it. - Lazarus Long.

Animals can be driven crazy by putting too many in too small a pen.
Homo sapiens is the only animal that voluntarily does this to himself.
- Lazarus Long

It fits the theme though.

[Lando Lincoln]

THREADJACK!!!!!

It fits the theme though.

 

[Lando Lincoln]

"It is in this context — from the perspective of the bloody millennia of mankind’s history — that I want you to look at the birth of a miracle: the United States of America. If it is ever proper for men to kneel, we should kneel when we read the Declaration of Independence."

- Ayn Rand

[Lando Lincoln]

"In any compromise between good and evil, it is only evil that can profit."
- John Galt in Atlas Shrugged

[Lando Lincoln]

""There are no absolutes," they chatter, blanking out the fact that they are uttering an absolute."
- John Galt
Atlas Shrugged

[Lando Lincoln]

The Smallest Minority on earth is the individual. Those who deny individual rights cannot claim to be defenders of minorities.
- Ayn Rand

[Lando Lincoln]

“Mediocrity” does not mean an average intelligence; it means an average intelligence that resents and envies its betters.
- Return of the Primitive: The Anti-Industrial Revolution

We are mired in "mediocrity", aren't we?

[Bigun]

"In any compromise between good and evil, it is only evil that can profit."
- John Galt in Atlas Shrugged

   and 

[Lando Lincoln]

"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

[Lando Lincoln]

Men have a weapon against you. Reason. So you must be very sure to take it away from them. Cut the props from under it. But be careful. Don’t deny outright. Never deny anything outright, you give your hand away. Don’t say reason is evil — though some have gone that far and with astonishing success. Just say that reason is limited. That there’s something above it. What? You don’t have to be too clear about it either. The field’s inexhaustible. `Instinct’ — `Feeling’ — `Revelation’ — `Divine Intuition’ — `Dialectic Materialism.’ If you get caught at some crucial point and somebody tells you your doctrine doesn’t make sense — you’re ready for him. You tell him there’s something above sense. That here he must not try to think, he must feel. He must believe. Suspend reason and you play it deuces wild. Anything goes in any manner you wish whenever you need it. You’ve got him. Can you rule a thinking man? We don’t want any thinking men.

Fountainhead - 1943
(courtesy of aligncare)