{"id":8340,"date":"2018-10-16T23:07:10","date_gmt":"2018-10-16T23:07:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.repeatright.com\/engine\/?p=8340"},"modified":"2018-11-02T05:26:16","modified_gmt":"2018-11-02T05:26:16","slug":"rand-ayn","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.repeatright.com\/engine\/rand-ayn\/","title":{"rendered":"RAND, Ayn"},"content":{"rendered":"
AYN RAND – Russian-American author, philosopher & screenwriter – AUTHOR QUOTE PAGE<\/div>\n


\n[vc_row css=”.vc_custom_1453315804311{margin-top: -40px !important;border-top-width: 0px !important;padding-top: 0px !important;}”][vc_column width=”1\/2″][vc_tta_tabs style=”modern” shape=”square” active_section=”1″][vc_tta_section i_icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-book” add_icon=”true” title=”Citation” tab_id=”1449531588223-e020d87d-f7dd094f-cf635381-89e5486b-50b8″][vc_column_text css_animation=”none”]\n

\u201cA good quotation must be a complete entity. It must be like a headline \u2013 sharp, clear, whole.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

~Ayn Rand<\/strong>, Russian-American author & philosopher<\/p>\n

Letter to Foundation for Economic Education founder Leonard Read (12 November 1944) reprint in Letters of Ayn Rand<\/em>, ed. Michael S. Berliner, New York, NY: Dutton Books, June 1995, p. 170<\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_tta_section][vc_tta_section i_icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-plus-circle” add_icon=”true” title=”Context” tab_id=”1449531588755-96303790-852e094f-cf635381-89e5486b-50b8″][vc_column_text css_animation=”none”]\n

Extended excerpt<\/em><\/strong> [Letter to Leonard Read, founder of the Foundation for Economic Education. Rand was returning a copy of a document entitled \u201cFree Men Say!\u201d that Read had given her, along with her editing & feedback notes on the material.]:<\/p>\n

\u201cThe second test is: does the quotation present a complete thought, by itself, out of context \u2013 and is that thought of value? If not \u2013 the quotation is useless. You have a great many quotes that are obviously parts of a general discussion, but of no particular strength by themselves. A good quotation must be a complete entity. It must be like a headline \u2013 sharp, clear, whole.<\/span>\u201d (p. 170)\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_tta_section][vc_tta_section i_icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-search” add_icon=”true” title=”Source ISBN” tab_id=”1449531589797-29580b31-8c50094f-cf635381-89e5486b-50b8″][vc_column_text css_animation=”none”]\n

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Source link<\/em><\/strong><\/span>:\u00a0Editor\u2019s copy \u2013 Letters of Ayn Rand<\/em> (June 1995) International Standard Book Number (ISBN) 0-525-93946-6<\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_tta_section][\/vc_tta_tabs][\/vc_column][vc_column width=”1\/2″][vc_tta_tabs style=”modern” shape=”square” active_section=”1″][vc_tta_section i_icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-book” add_icon=”true” title=”Citation” tab_id=”1453315829087-ce67c619-0fbc5381-89e5486b-50b8″][vc_column_text css_animation=”none”]\n

\u201cA<\/strong>chievement of your happiness is the only moral<\/em> purpose of your life, and that happiness<\/em>, 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.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

~Ayn Rand<\/strong>, Russian-American author & philosopher<\/p>\n

\u201cThis Is John Galt Speaking\u201d (1961) For The New Intellectual<\/em> (1961) New York, NY: Random House, p. 225<\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_tta_section][vc_tta_section i_icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-plus-circle” add_icon=”true” title=”Context” tab_id=”1453315829475-7c82a017-1e625381-89e5486b-50b8″][vc_column_text css_animation=”none”]\n

Extended excerpt<\/em><\/strong> [Fiction, character ‘John Galt’ delivering a radio address \u2013 italics original to Rand\u2019s text]:<\/p>\n

“Accept the fact that the achievement of your happiness is the only moral<\/em> purpose of your life, and that happiness<\/em> – 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.<\/span> Happiness was the responsibility you dreaded, it required the kind of rational discipline you did not value yourself enough to assume \u2013 and the anxious staleness of your days is the monument to your evasion of the knowledge that there is no moral substitute for happiness, that there is no more despicable coward than the man who deserted the battle for his joy, fearing to assert his right to existence, lacking the courage and the loyalty to life of a bird or a flower reaching for the sun. Discard the protective rags of that vice which you call a virtue: humility \u2013 learn to value yourself, which means: to fight for your happiness \u2013 and when you learn that pride<\/em> is the sum of all virtues, you will learn to live like a man.\u201d (p. 179)<\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_tta_section][vc_tta_section i_icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-search” add_icon=”true” title=”Source ID” tab_id=”1453315829682-63e8fade-cf4c5381-89e5486b-50b8″][vc_column_text css_animation=”none”]\n

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Source<\/strong><\/em><\/span>:\u00a0Library \u2013 For the New Intellectual<\/em> (1961) Online Computer Library Center (OCLC) 1433824<\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_tta_section][\/vc_tta_tabs][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row css=”.vc_custom_1453316221301{margin-top: 0px !important;border-top-width: 0px !important;padding-top: 0px !important;}”][vc_column width=”1\/2″][vc_tta_tabs style=”modern” shape=”square” active_section=”1″][vc_tta_section i_icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-book” add_icon=”true” title=”Citation” tab_id=”1453315828001-b5e2e52e-ea1e5381-89e5486b-50b8″][vc_column_text css_animation=”none”]\n

\u201cA<\/strong>n idea is a light turned on in a man\u2019s soul.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

~Ayn Rand<\/strong>, Russian-American author & philosopher<\/p>\n

\u201cRequiem for Man\u201d (1967) The Objectivist<\/em>, eds. Ayn Rand & Nathaniel Branden; reprint in Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal<\/em>, eds. Nathaniel Branden, Alan Greenspan & Robert Hessen, New York, NY: New American Library, November 1967, p. 304; online via Open Library [free subscription service] openlibrary.org<\/a><\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_tta_section][vc_tta_section i_icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-plus-circle” add_icon=”true” title=”Context” tab_id=”1453315828385-86abfac4-79bf5381-89e5486b-50b8″][vc_column_text css_animation=”none”]\n

Extended excerpt\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>[Essay. Rand was responding to Pope Paul VI\u2019s Populorum Progressio<\/em> (On the Development of the Peoples<\/em>) encyclical, which was released on 26 March 1967. Rand was not a fan – she begins by describing the Pope\u2019s message as \u201cthe manifesto of an impassioned hatred for capitalism.\u201d (p. 297)]:<\/p>\n

\u201cThis look is not confined to children. Comic-strip artists are in the habit of representing it by means of a light-bulb flashing on, above the head of a character who has suddenly grasped an idea. In simple, primitive terms, this is an appropriate symbol: an idea is a light turned on in a man\u2019s soul<\/span>.\u201d (p. 304)<\/p>\n

Source note<\/em><\/strong>: Rand\u2019s \u201cRequiem for Man\u201d was originally published in three parts in the July, August & September 1967 issues of The Objectivist <\/em>pamphlet.<\/p>\n

Please see our \u201cSource Link\u201d tab for links to Pope Paul VI\u2019s encyclical and Rand’s text.<\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_tta_section][vc_tta_section i_icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-search” add_icon=”true” title=”Source Link” tab_id=”1453315828572-dac97b48-68e05381-89e5486b-50b8″][vc_column_text css_animation=”none”]\n

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Source link <\/em><\/strong>[Featured source]<\/span>: Library –\u00a0Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal<\/em> (Nov. 1967) online via Online Library & Internet Archive [free subscription service]: https:\/\/archive.org\/stream\/capitalismunknow00rand#page\/304\/mode\/2up<\/a><\/p>\n

Source link<\/em><\/strong> [Pope Paul VI \u2013 Encyclical]<\/span>: Populorum Progressio<\/em> (26 March 1967) online via The Vatican: http:\/\/w2.vatican.va\/content\/paul-vi\/en\/encyclicals\/documents\/hf_p-vi_enc_26031967_populorum.html<\/a><\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_tta_section][\/vc_tta_tabs][\/vc_column][vc_column width=”1\/2″][vc_tta_tabs style=”modern” shape=”square” active_section=”1″][vc_tta_section i_icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-book” add_icon=”true” title=”Citation” tab_id=”1453315829087-ce67c619-0fbc5381-89e5486b-50b8″][vc_column_text css_animation=”none”]\n

\u201cHe is free to evade reality, he is free to unfocus his mind and stumble blindly down any road he pleases, but not free to avoid the abyss he refuses to see.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

~Ayn Rand<\/strong>, Russian-American author & philosopher<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Objectivist Ethics,\u201d paper read at the University of Wisconsin Symposium on \u201cEthics in Our Time\u201d (9 February 1961) Madison, Wisconsin; reprint in Rand\u2019s The Virtue of Selfishness<\/em>, New York: Signet\/Penguin, 1964, p. 19<\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_tta_section][vc_tta_section i_icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-ban” add_icon=”true” title=”Misquotes” tab_id=”1453315829287-33b1178b-1c815381-89e5486b-50b8″][vc_column_text css_animation=”none”]\n

Misquote notes<\/em><\/strong><\/span>:\u00a0A few sources have paraphrased Rand and substituted \u201cMan is<\/strong><\/span>\u201d or \u201cPeople are<\/strong><\/span>\u201d without indicating that the the sentence was altered from Rand’s original:<\/p>\n

Original text<\/em><\/span>: \u201cHe is free to evade reality, he is free to unfocus his mind and stumble blindly down any road he pleases, but not free to avoid the abyss he refuses to see.<\/span>\u201d<\/p>\n

Misquotes\/paraphrasing<\/em><\/span>:<\/p>\n

\u201cMan<\/strong> is free to evade reality, he is free to unfocus his mind and stumble blindly down any road he pleases, but not free to avoid the abyss he refuses to see.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople are<\/strong> free to evade reality, he is free to unfocus his mind and stumble blindly down any road he pleases, but not free to avoid the abyss he refuses to see.\u201d<\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_tta_section][vc_tta_section i_icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-plus-circle” add_icon=”true” title=”Context” tab_id=”1453315829475-7c82a017-1e625381-89e5486b-50b8″][vc_column_text css_animation=”none”]\n

Extended excerpt<\/em><\/strong> [Paper originally delivered by Rand to a University of Wisconsin symposium.]:<\/p>\n

“A being who does not know automatically what is true or false, cannot know automatically what is right or wrong what is good for him or evil. Yet he needs that knowledge in order to live. He is not exempt from the laws of reality, he is a specific organism of a specific nature that requires specific actions to sustain his life. He cannot achieve his survival by arbitrary means nor by random motions nor by blind urges nor by chance nor by whim. That which survival requires is set by his nature and is not open to his choice. What is<\/em> open to his choice is only whether he will discover it or not, whether he will chose the right goals and values<\/em> or not. He is free to make the wrong choice, but not free to succeed with it. He is free to evade reality, he is free to unfocus his mind and stumble blindly down any road he pleases, but not free to avoid the abyss he refuses to see<\/span>.\u201d (pp. 18-19)<\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_tta_section][vc_tta_section i_icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-search” add_icon=”true” title=”Source ID” tab_id=”1453315829682-63e8fade-cf4c5381-89e5486b-50b8″][vc_column_text css_animation=”none”]\n

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Source<\/strong><\/em><\/span>: Library – The Virtue of Selfishness<\/em> (1964) Online Computer Library Center (OCLC) No. 1050717945<\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_tta_section][\/vc_tta_tabs][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row css=”.vc_custom_1453316221301{margin-top: 0px !important;border-top-width: 0px !important;padding-top: 0px !important;}”][vc_column width=”1\/2″][vc_tta_tabs style=”modern” shape=”square” active_section=”1″][vc_tta_section i_icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-book” add_icon=”true” title=”Citation” tab_id=”1453315828001-b5e2e52e-ea1e5381-89e5486b-50b8″][vc_column_text css_animation=”none”]\n

\u201cI am an intransigent atheist, though not a militant one. This means that I am not fighting against <\/em>religion \u2013 I am fighting for <\/em>reason.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

~Ayn Rand<\/strong>, Russian-American author & philosopher<\/p>\n

\u201cLetter to Bruce Alger, U.S. Congressman from Texas\u201d (4 February 1963) reprint in Letters of Ayn Rand<\/em>, ed. Michael S. Berliner, New York, NY: Dutton Books, June 1995, p. 606<\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_tta_section][vc_tta_section i_icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-plus-circle” add_icon=”true” title=”Context” tab_id=”1449531591631-43861bc7-da28094f-cf635381-89e5486b-50b8″][vc_column_text css_animation=”none”]\n

Extended excerpt<\/em><\/strong> [Letter to U.S. Congressman Bruce Alger, in response to public remarks he made regarding religion, atheism, and her writing. Rand tells Alger that \u201cthe most bewildering statement in your study is on page 14, namely: \u2018ATHEISM, AGNOSTICISM, THEREFORE, IS ILLEGAL,\u2019 and goes on to clarify her positions in more detail. Italics are original to the text.]:<\/p>\n

\u201cIn accordance with the principles of America and of capitalism, I recognize your right to hold any beliefs you choose \u2013 and, on the same grounds, you have to recognize my right to hold any convictions I choose. I am an intransigent atheist though not a militant one. This means that I am not fighting against <\/em>religion \u2013 I am fighting for<\/em> reason.<\/span> When faith and reason clash, it is up to the religious people to decide how they choose to reconcile the conflict. As far as I am concerned, I have no terms of communication and no means to deal with people, except through reason.\u201d (p. 606)<\/p>\n

Source note<\/em><\/strong>: The Letters of Ayn Rand<\/em> editors note: \u201cCongressman Alger answered that he meant that atheism and agnosticism were \u2018contrary to the spirit of the law, if not the letter.\u2019\u201d (p. 606)<\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_tta_section][vc_tta_section i_icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-search” add_icon=”true” title=”Source ISBN” tab_id=”1449531592891-f39e055b-a66e094f-cf635381-89e5486b-50b8″][vc_column_text css_animation=”none”]\n

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Source<\/em><\/strong><\/span>: Editor\u2019s copy \u2013 Letters of Ayn Rand<\/em> (June 1995) International Standard Book Number (ISBN) 0-525-93946-6<\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_tta_section][\/vc_tta_tabs][\/vc_column][vc_column width=”1\/2″][vc_tta_tabs style=”modern” shape=”square” active_section=”1″][vc_tta_section i_icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-book” add_icon=”true” title=”Citation” tab_id=”1449531591105-7edf5f39-feaa094f-cf635381-89e5486b-50b8″][vc_column_text css_animation=”none”]\n

\u201cI object to the idea<\/em> that the people have the right to vote on everything.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

~Ayn Rand<\/strong>, Russian-American author & philosopher<\/p>\n

Remark during a televised interview with Mike Wallace (25 February 1959) \u201cThe Mike Wallace Interview,\u201d Channel 13, New York, NY; online via Open Culture (quote at approx. 10:45 of 27:07 video) www.openculture.com<\/a>; transcript via Henry Imler, Mike Wallace Interview Ayn Rand<\/em>, 1959, Internet Archive, archive.org<\/a><\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_tta_section][vc_tta_section i_icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-ban” add_icon=”true” title=”Misquotes” tab_id=”1453315828190-b4d7b461-d58d5381-89e5486b-50b8″][vc_column_text css_animation=”none”]\n

Misattribution notes<\/em><\/strong><\/span>:\u00a0Some sources have incorrectly attributed this Rand quote to a 1959 interview with journalist Dan Rather<\/strong>. While Rather and \u201cThe Mike Wallace Interview\u201d host Mike Wallace were colleagues, the Rand interview was with Wallace only.<\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_tta_section][vc_tta_section i_icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-plus-circle” add_icon=”true” title=”Context” tab_id=”1453315828385-86abfac4-79bf5381-89e5486b-50b8″][vc_column_text css_animation=”none”]\n

Extended excerpt<\/em><\/strong> [Televised interview. Excerpted remarks begin at 10:11 in the cited video source. Transcript by Repeat Right \u2013 punctuation and minor text changes from cited transcript source.]:<\/p>\n

Ayn Rand<\/u>: […] \u201cIt is precisely these trends which are<\/em> bringing the world to disaster, because we are now moving towards complete collectivism, or socialism. A system under which everybody is enslaved to everybody – and we are moving that way only because of our altruist morality.<\/p>\n

Mike Wallace<\/u>: Ah, yes, but you say everybody is enslaved to everybody, yet this came about democratically, Ayn. Free people, in a free country, voted for this kind of government, wanted this kind of legislation. Do you object to the democratic process?<\/p>\n

Rand<\/u>: I object to the idea<\/em> that people have the right to vote on everything.<\/span> The traditional American system was a system based on the idea that [the] majority will prevailed only in public or political affairs. And that it was limited by inalienable individual rights – therefore I do not believe that the majority can vote a man\u2019s life, or property, or freedom away from him. And therefore I do not believe that if a majority votes on any issue, that this makes the issue right, it doesn\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_tta_section][vc_tta_section i_icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-search” add_icon=”true” title=”Source Link” tab_id=”1453315828572-dac97b48-68e05381-89e5486b-50b8″][vc_column_text css_animation=”none”]\n

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Source link <\/em><\/strong>[Featured source \u2013 video]<\/span>: \u201cThe Outspoken Ayn Rand Interviewed by Mike Wallace\u201d (25 February 1959) video online via Open Culture: http:\/\/www.openculture.com\/2013\/06\/the_outspoken_ayn_rand_interviewed_by_mike_wallace.html<\/a><\/p>\n

Source link <\/em><\/strong>[Featured source \u2013 transcript]<\/span>: Mike Wallace Interviews Ayn Rand (1959): A Transcript<\/em> (1959) online via Internet Archive: https:\/\/archive.org\/stream\/MikeWallaceInterviewsAynRand\/Mike%20Wallace%20interviews%20Ayn%20Ran_djvu.txt<\/a><\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_tta_section][\/vc_tta_tabs][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row css=”.vc_custom_1453316221301{margin-top: 0px !important;border-top-width: 0px !important;padding-top: 0px !important;}”][vc_column width=”1\/2″][vc_tta_tabs style=”modern” shape=”square” active_section=”1″][vc_tta_section i_icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-book” add_icon=”true” title=”Citation” tab_id=”1453315828001-b5e2e52e-ea1e5381-89e5486b-50b8″][vc_column_text css_animation=”none”]\n

\u201cI would give the greatest sunset in the world for one sight of New York\u2019s skyline….The shapes and the thought that made them. The sky over New York and the will of man made visible. What other religion do we need? And then people tell me about pilgrimages to some dank pest-hole in a jungle where they go to do homage to a crumbling temple, to a leering stone monster with a pot belly, created by some leprous savage. \u00a0Is it beauty and genius they want to see? Do they seek a sense of the sublime? Let them come to New York, stand on the shore of the Hudson, look and kneel.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

~Ayn Rand<\/strong>, Russian-American author & philosopher<\/p>\n

The Fountainhead<\/em> (1943) Philadelphia, PA: The Blakiston Co., p. 478<\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_tta_section][vc_tta_section i_icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-plus-circle” add_icon=”true” title=”Context” tab_id=”1449531591631-43861bc7-da28094f-cf635381-89e5486b-50b8″][vc_column_text css_animation=”none”]\n

Extended excerpt<\/em><\/strong> [Fictional dialogue \u2013 Character \u2018Gail\u2019]:<\/p>\n

\u201cI would give the greatest sunset in the world for one sight of New York\u2019s skyline.<\/span> Particularly when one can\u2019t see the details. Just the shapes. The shapes and the thought that made them. The sky over New York and the will of man made visible. What other religion do we need? And then people tell me about pilgrimages to some dank pest-hole in a jungle where they go to do homage to a crumbling temple, to a leering stone monster with a pot belly, created by some leprous savage. \u00a0Is it beauty and genius they want to see? Do they seek a sense of the sublime? Let them come to New York, stand on the shore of the Hudson, look and kneel.<\/span> When I see the city from my window – no, I don’t feel how small I am – but I feel that if a war came to threaten this, I would like to throw myself into space, over the city, and protect these buildings with my body.\u201d (p. 478)<\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_tta_section][vc_tta_section i_icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-search” add_icon=”true” title=”Source ID” tab_id=”1449531592891-f39e055b-a66e094f-cf635381-89e5486b-50b8″][vc_column_text css_animation=”none”]\n

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Source<\/em><\/strong><\/span>:\u00a0Editor\u2019s copy \u2013 The Fountainhead<\/em> (1943 Blakiston Co.) Online Computer Library Center (OCLC) No. 878563057<\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_tta_section][\/vc_tta_tabs][\/vc_column][vc_column width=”1\/2″][vc_tta_tabs style=”modern” shape=”square” active_section=”1″][vc_tta_section i_icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-book” add_icon=”true” title=”Citation” tab_id=”1449531591105-7edf5f39-feaa094f-cf635381-89e5486b-50b8″][vc_column_text css_animation=”none”]\n

\u201cKill reverence and you\u2019ve killed the hero in man.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

~Ayn Rand<\/strong>, Russian-American author & philosopher<\/p>\n

The Fountainhead <\/em>(1943) Indianapolis, IN: Bobbs-Merrill Co., 1943, Part IV, p. 691<\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_tta_section][vc_tta_section i_icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-plus-circle” add_icon=”true” title=”Context” tab_id=”1453315828385-86abfac4-79bf5381-89e5486b-50b8″][vc_column_text css_animation=”none”]\n

Extended excerpt<\/em><\/strong> [Fictional dialogue. Chapter XIV – Character \u2018Ellsworth Toohey\u2019 to \u2018Peter Keating\u2019]: \u201cDon\u2019t set out to raze all shrines \u2013 you\u2019ll frighten men. Enshrine mediocrity \u2013 and the shrines are razed. Then there\u2019s another way. Kill by laughter. Laughter is an instrument of human joy. Learn to use it as a weapon of destruction. Turn it into a sneer. It\u2019s simple. Tell them to laugh at everything. Tell them that a sense of humor is an unlimited virtue. Don\u2019t let anything remain sacred in a man\u2019s soul \u2013 and his soul won\u2019t be sacred to him. Kill reverence and you\u2019re killed the hero in man.<\/span> One doesn\u2019t reverence with a giggle.\u201d (p. 691)<\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_tta_section][vc_tta_section i_icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-search” add_icon=”true” title=”Source ID” tab_id=”1453315828572-dac97b48-68e05381-89e5486b-50b8″][vc_column_text css_animation=”none”]\n

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Source<\/em><\/strong><\/span>:\u00a0Editor\u2019s copy \u2013 The Fountainhead<\/em> (1943) Online Computer Library Center (OCLC) No. 878563057<\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_tta_section][\/vc_tta_tabs][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row css=”.vc_custom_1453316221301{margin-top: 0px !important;border-top-width: 0px !important;padding-top: 0px !important;}”][vc_column width=”1\/2″][vc_tta_tabs style=”modern” shape=”square” active_section=”1″][vc_tta_section i_icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-book” add_icon=”true” title=”Citation” tab_id=”1453315828001-b5e2e52e-ea1e5381-89e5486b-50b8″][vc_column_text css_animation=”none”]\n

\u201cM<\/strong>oney is only a tool. It will take you wherever you wish, but it will not replace you as the driver.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

~Ayn Rand<\/strong>, Russian-American author & philosopher<\/p>\n

Atlas Shrugged<\/em> (1957) New York: Random House, 1957, 11th printing, p. 411<\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_tta_section][vc_tta_section i_icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-plus-circle” add_icon=”true” title=”Context” tab_id=”1453315828385-86abfac4-79bf5381-89e5486b-50b8″][vc_column_text css_animation=”none”]\n

Extended excerpt<\/em><\/strong> [Fictional dialogue]:<\/p>\n

\u201cBut money is only a tool. It will take you wherever you wish, but it will not replace you as the driver.<\/span> It will give you the means for the satisfaction of your desires, but it will not provide you with desires. Money is the scourge of the men who attempt to reverse the law of causality \u2013 the men who seek to replace the mind by seizing the products of the mind.\u201d (p. 411)<\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_tta_section][vc_tta_section i_icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-search” add_icon=”true” title=”Source ID” tab_id=”1453315828572-dac97b48-68e05381-89e5486b-50b8″][vc_column_text css_animation=”none”]\n

 <\/p>\n

Source<\/em><\/strong><\/span>:\u00a0Editor\u2019s Copy \u2013 Atlas Shrugged<\/em> (1957|Random House 11th printing) Online Computer Library Center (OCLC) No. 740513270<\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_tta_section][\/vc_tta_tabs][\/vc_column][vc_column width=”1\/2″][vc_tta_tabs style=”modern” shape=”square” active_section=”1″][vc_tta_section i_icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-book” add_icon=”true” title=”Citation” tab_id=”1449531591105-7edf5f39-feaa094f-cf635381-89e5486b-50b8″][vc_column_text css_animation=”none”]\n

\u201cM<\/strong>y happiness is not the means to any end. It is the end. It is its own goal. It is its own purpose. Neither am I the means to any end others may wish to accomplish. I am not a tool for their use. I am not a servant of their needs. I am not a bandage for their wounds. I am not a sacrifice on their alters.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

~Ayn Rand<\/strong>, Russian-American author & philosopher<\/p>\n

Anthem<\/em> (1938) New York; Signet\/Penguin, March 1990, pp. 109-110<\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_tta_section][vc_tta_section i_icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-plus-circle” add_icon=”true” title=”Context” tab_id=”1453315828385-86abfac4-79bf5381-89e5486b-50b8″][vc_column_text css_animation=”none”]\n

Extended excerpt<\/em><\/strong> [Fictional novella – Part Eleven]:<\/p>\n

\u201cI know not if this earth on which I stand is the core of the universe or if it is but a speck of dust lost in eternity. I know not and I care not. For I know what happiness is possible to me on earth. And my happiness needs no higher aim to vindicate it. My happiness is not the means to any end. It is the end. It is its own goal. It is its own purpose.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0 Neither am I the means to any end others may wish to accomplish. I am not a tool for their use. I am not a servant of their needs. I am not a bandage for their wounds. I am not a sacrifice on their alters.<\/span>\u201d (pp. 109-110)<\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_tta_section][vc_tta_section i_icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-search” add_icon=”true” title=”Source ISBN” tab_id=”1453315828572-dac97b48-68e05381-89e5486b-50b8″][vc_column_text css_animation=”none”]\n

 <\/p>\n

Source<\/em><\/strong><\/span>:\u00a0Library – Anthem<\/em> (1946|1990 Penguin\/Signet) International Standard Book Number (ISBN) 0451159934<\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_tta_section][\/vc_tta_tabs][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row css=”.vc_custom_1453316221301{margin-top: 0px !important;border-top-width: 0px !important;padding-top: 0px !important;}”][vc_column width=”1\/2″][vc_tta_tabs style=”modern” shape=”square” active_section=”1″][vc_tta_section i_icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-book” add_icon=”true” title=”Citation” tab_id=”1453315828001-b5e2e52e-ea1e5381-89e5486b-50b8″][vc_column_text css_animation=”none”]\n

\u201cThe Argument from Intimidation is a confession of intellectual impotence.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

~Ayn Rand<\/strong>, Russian-American author & philosopher<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Argument from Intimidation\u201d (July 1964) \u2018Check Your Premises\u2019 column, The Objectivist Newsletter<\/em>, Vol. 3, No. 7, eds. Ayn Rand & Nathaniel Branden; in The Objectivist Newsletter: Volumes 1-4, 1962-1965<\/em>, Irvine, CA: Second Renaissance, 1990, p. 25, column 1<\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_tta_section][vc_tta_section i_icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-plus-circle” add_icon=”true” title=”Context” tab_id=”1453315828385-86abfac4-79bf5381-89e5486b-50b8″][vc_column_text css_animation=”none”]\n

Extended excerpt<\/em><\/strong> [Column in Rand’s newsletter]: \u201c\u201dIf those vibrations fail, if such debaters are challenged, one finds that they have no arguments, no evidence, no proof, no reasons, no ground to stand on \u2013 that their noisy aggressiveness serves to hide a vacuum \u2013 that the Argument from Intimidation is a confession of intellectual impotence.\u201d (p. 25, column 1)<\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_tta_section][vc_tta_section i_icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-search” add_icon=”true” title=”Source ISBN” tab_id=”1453315828572-dac97b48-68e05381-89e5486b-50b8″][vc_column_text css_animation=”none”]\n

 <\/p>\n

Source<\/em><\/strong><\/span>:\u00a0Editor\u2019s copy – The Objectivist Newsletter: Volumes 1-4, 1962-1965<\/em> (1990) International Standard Book Number (ISBN) 1-56114-149-6<\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_tta_section][\/vc_tta_tabs][\/vc_column][vc_column width=”1\/2″][vc_tta_tabs style=”modern” shape=”square” active_section=”1″][vc_tta_section i_icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-book” add_icon=”true” title=”Citation” tab_id=”1449531591105-7edf5f39-feaa094f-cf635381-89e5486b-50b8″][vc_column_text css_animation=”none”]\n

\u201cThe Christian morality includes the most vicious evil as the most essential part of the happiness it advocates: self-sacrifice.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

~Ayn Rand<\/strong>, Russian-American author & philosopher<\/p>\n

Journal entry (19 May 1949) in Journals of Ayn Rand<\/em>, ed. David Harriman, Dutton\/Penguin, First printing, September 1997, pp. 599-600<\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_tta_section][vc_tta_section i_icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-plus-circle” add_icon=”true” title=”Context” tab_id=”1453315828385-86abfac4-79bf5381-89e5486b-50b8″][vc_column_text css_animation=”none”]\n

Extended excerpt<\/em><\/strong> [Rand journal entry. Quote appears under subheading \u201cNote in regard to Christian morality\u201d]:<\/p>\n

\u201c<\/span>The Christian morality includes the most vicious evil as the most essential part of the happiness it advocates: self-sacrifice.<\/span> This leads to all the vicious paradoxes of \u201cbe happy because you\u2019re not happy,\u201d \u201cfind happiness in suffering, etc.\u201d (pp. 599-600)<\/p>\n

Source notes<\/em><\/strong>: <\/em>Rand\u2019s estate heir and close Objectivist associate Leonard Peikoff provided the foreword to the Journals of Ayn Rand<\/em>, and her journal entries were edited by Objectivist scholar David Harriman.<\/p>\n

Rand was a staunch atheist, and she expressed harsh criticism for faith, religion, and religious believers throughout her journals. From another entry date April 9, 1934 (italics original to cited source):<\/p>\n

\u201cReligion is also the first enemy of the ability to think. That ability is not used by men to one tenth of its possibility, yet before they learn to think they are discouraged by being ordered to take things on faith. Faith is the worst curse of mankind<\/em>; it is the exact antithesis and enemy of thought<\/em>. I want to learn why men do not use logical reasoning to govern their lives and [solve] their problems. It is impossible to them or has it been taught to them as impossible.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0 I believe this last. And the teacher is the church. Though<\/em>t and reason <\/em>are the only weapons of mankind, the only possible bond of understanding among men. Anyone who demands that anything be taken on faith<\/em> \u2013 or relies on any super-mental, super-logical instinct \u2013 denies all reason.\u201d (Journals<\/em>, p. 68)<\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_tta_section][vc_tta_section i_icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-search” add_icon=”true” title=”Source ISBN” tab_id=”1453315828572-dac97b48-68e05381-89e5486b-50b8″][vc_column_text css_animation=”none”]\n

Source<\/em><\/strong><\/span>:\u00a0Library – The Journals of Ayn Rand <\/em>(1997) International Standard Book Number (ISBN) 0-525-94370-6<\/p><\/blockquote>\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_tta_section][\/vc_tta_tabs][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row css=”.vc_custom_1453316221301{margin-top: 0px !important;border-top-width: 0px !important;padding-top: 0px !important;}”][vc_column width=”1\/2″][vc_tta_tabs style=”modern” shape=”square” active_section=”1″][vc_tta_section i_icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-book” add_icon=”true” title=”Citation” tab_id=”1453315828001-b5e2e52e-ea1e5381-89e5486b-50b8″][vc_column_text css_animation=”none”]\n

\u201cThe fault of liberal democracies: giving full rights to quantity (majorities), they forget the rights of quality, which are much higher rights. Prove that differences of quality not only do exist inexorably, but also should exist. The next step \u2013 democracy of superiors only….The new set of values: [my] supreme egoism.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

~Ayn Rand<\/strong>, Russian-American author & philosopher<\/p>\n

Journal entry (16 May 1934) in Journals of Ayn Rand<\/em>, ed. David Harriman, Dutton\/Penguin, First printing, September 1997, p. 74<\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_tta_section][vc_tta_section i_icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-plus-circle” add_icon=”true” title=”Context” tab_id=”1453315828385-86abfac4-79bf5381-89e5486b-50b8″][vc_column_text css_animation=”none”]\n

Extended excerpt<\/em><\/strong> [Rand journal entry. From collection Part I: \u2018Early Projects \u2013 First Philosophic Journal.\u2019 Brackets and parentheses as they appear in cited source.]: \u201cThe fault of liberal democracies: giving full rights to quantity (majorities), they forget the rights of quality, which are much higher rights. Prove that differences of quality not only do exist inexorably, but also should exist. The next step \u2013 democracy of superiors only.<\/span> This is not possible without a set of values from which this honor is to be derived. The new set of values: [my] supreme egoism<\/span>.\u201d (p. 74)<\/p>\n

Source note<\/em><\/strong>: <\/em>Rand\u2019s estate heir and close Objectivist associate Leonard Peikoff provided the foreword to the Journals of Ayn Rand<\/em>, and her journal entries were edited by Objectivist scholar David Harriman.<\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_tta_section][vc_tta_section i_icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-search” add_icon=”true” title=”Source ISBN” tab_id=”1453315828572-dac97b48-68e05381-89e5486b-50b8″][vc_column_text css_animation=”none”]\n

Source<\/em><\/strong><\/span>:\u00a0Library – The Journals of Ayn Rand <\/em>(1997) International Standard Book Number (ISBN) 0-525-94370-6<\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_tta_section][\/vc_tta_tabs][\/vc_column][vc_column width=”1\/2″][vc_tta_tabs style=”modern” shape=”square” active_section=”1″][vc_tta_section i_icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-book” add_icon=”true” title=”Citation” tab_id=”1449531591105-7edf5f39-feaa094f-cf635381-89e5486b-50b8″][vc_column_text css_animation=”none”]\n

\u201cThe hardest thing to explain is the glaringly evident which everybody has decided not to see.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

~Ayn Rand<\/strong>, Russian-American author & philosopher<\/p>\n

The Fountainhead<\/em> (1943) Indianapolis, IN: Bobbs-Merrill Co., 1943, Part III, p. 537<\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_tta_section][vc_tta_section i_icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-plus-circle” add_icon=”true” title=”Context” tab_id=”1449531591631-43861bc7-da28094f-cf635381-89e5486b-50b8″][vc_column_text css_animation=”none”]\n

Extended excerpt<\/em><\/strong> [Fictional dialogue \u2013 \u2018Gail\u2019 to \u2018Dominique.\u2019 Ellipsis as it appears in cited text.]:<\/p>\n

\u201cControl of the world, my dear, belongs to men like me. The Tooheys of this earth wouldn\u2019t know how to dream about it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ll try to explain. It\u2019s very difficult. The hardest thing to explain is the glaringly evident which everybody has decided not to see.<\/span> But if you\u2019ll listen…\u201d (p. 537)<\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_tta_section][vc_tta_section i_icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-search” add_icon=”true” title=”Source ID” tab_id=”1449531592891-f39e055b-a66e094f-cf635381-89e5486b-50b8″][vc_column_text css_animation=”none”]\n

 <\/p>\n

Source<\/em><\/strong><\/span>:\u00a0Editor\u2019s copy \u2013 The Fountainhead<\/em> (1943) Online Computer Library Center (OCLC) No. 878563057<\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_tta_section][\/vc_tta_tabs][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row css=”.vc_custom_1453316221301{margin-top: 0px !important;border-top-width: 0px !important;padding-top: 0px !important;}”][vc_column width=”1\/2″][vc_tta_tabs style=”modern” shape=”square” active_section=”1″][vc_tta_section i_icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-book” add_icon=”true” title=”Citation” tab_id=”1453315828001-b5e2e52e-ea1e5381-89e5486b-50b8″][vc_column_text css_animation=”none”]\n

\u201cThe trouble in the world today is philosophical: only the right philosophy can save us. But this party plagiarizes some of my ideas, mixes them with the exact opposite \u2013 with religionists, anarchists and every intellectual misfit and scum they can find \u2013 and call themselves Libertarians and run for office.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

~Ayn Rand<\/strong>, Russian-American author & philosopher<\/p>\n

Response to a question about a Libertarian presidential candidate, during a Q&A session following her Ford Hall Forum lecture, \u201cThe Moral Factor\u201d (15 May 1976) Public lecture series, Ford Hall Forum, Suffolk University, Boston, Massachusetts; in Ayn Rand Answers, the Best of Her Q&A<\/em>, ed. Robert Mayhew, New York: New American Library, 2005, p<\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_tta_section][vc_tta_section i_icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-plus-circle” add_icon=”true” title=”Context” tab_id=”1449531591631-43861bc7-da28094f-cf635381-89e5486b-50b8″][vc_column_text css_animation=”none”]\n

Extended excerpt<\/em><\/strong> [Fielding an audience question during a public forum Q&A]:<\/p>\n

Question<\/u> \u2013 Have you heard of Libertarian presidential candidate Robert MacBride? What do you think of him?<\/p>\n

Ayn Rand<\/u> \u2013 \u201cMy answer should be \u201cI don\u2019t think of him.\u201d There\u2019s nothing to hear. The trouble in the world today is philosophical: only the right philosophy can save us. But this party plagiarizes some of my ideas, mixes them with the exact opposite \u2013 with religionists, anarchists and every intellectual misfit and scum they can find \u2013 and call themselves libertarians and run for office.<\/span> I dislike Reagan and Carter, I\u2019m not too enthusiastic about the other candidates. But the worst of them are giants compared to anybody who would attempt something as un-philosophical, low, and pragmatic as the Libertarian Party. It is the last insult to ideas and philosophical consistency.\u201d<\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_tta_section][vc_tta_section i_icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-search” add_icon=”true” title=”Source ISBN” tab_id=”1449531592891-f39e055b-a66e094f-cf635381-89e5486b-50b8″][vc_column_text css_animation=”none”]\n

 <\/p>\n

Source<\/em><\/strong><\/span>: Editor\u2019s copy – Ayn Rand Answers: The Best of Her Q & A<\/em> (2005) International Standard Book Number (ISBN) 0451216652<\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_tta_section][\/vc_tta_tabs][\/vc_column][vc_column width=”1\/2″][vc_tta_tabs style=”modern” shape=”square” active_section=”1″][vc_tta_section i_icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-book” add_icon=”true” title=”Citation” tab_id=”1449531591105-7edf5f39-feaa094f-cf635381-89e5486b-50b8″][vc_column_text css_animation=”none”]\n

\u201cThe uncontested absurdities of today are the accepted slogans of tomorrow.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

~Ayn Rand<\/strong>, Russian-American author & philosopher<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Cashing-In: The Student \u201cRebellion\u201d\u201d (July 1965) \u2018Check Your Premises\u2019 column, The Objectivist Newsletter, Vol. 4, eds. Ayn Rand & Nathaniel Branden; in The Objectivist Newsletter: Volumes 1-4, 1962-1965<\/em>, New York: The Objectivist Press, 1971<\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_tta_section][vc_tta_section i_icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-plus-circle” add_icon=”true” title=”Context” tab_id=”1449531591631-43861bc7-da28094f-cf635381-89e5486b-50b8″][vc_column_text css_animation=”none”]\n

Extended excerpt<\/em><\/strong> [Essay]:<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the absence of intellectual opposition, the rebels\u2019 notions will gradually come to be absorbed into the culture. The uncontested absurdities of today are the accepted slogans of tomorrow.<\/span> They come to be accepted by degrees, by precedent, by implication, by erosion, by default, by dint of constant pressure on one side and constant retreat on the other \u2013 until the day when they are suddenly declared to be the country\u2019s official ideology.\u201d<\/p>\n

Source note<\/em><\/strong>: Rand\u2019s essay was written in response to the1964-1965 student protests at the University of California at Berkeley.<\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_tta_section][vc_tta_section i_icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-search” add_icon=”true” title=”Source ID” tab_id=”1449531592891-f39e055b-a66e094f-cf635381-89e5486b-50b8″][vc_column_text css_animation=”none”]\n

 <\/p>\n

Source<\/em><\/strong><\/span>: Editor\u2019s copy – The Objectivist Newsletter: Volumes 1-4, 1962-1965<\/em><\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_tta_section][\/vc_tta_tabs][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row css=”.vc_custom_1453316221301{margin-top: 0px !important;border-top-width: 0px !important;padding-top: 0px !important;}”][vc_column width=”1\/2″][vc_tta_tabs style=”modern” shape=”square” active_section=”1″][vc_tta_section i_icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-book” add_icon=”true” title=”Citation” tab_id=”1453315828001-b5e2e52e-ea1e5381-89e5486b-50b8″][vc_column_text css_animation=”none”]\n

\u201cWhat are<\/em> your masses but mud to be ground underfoot, fuel to be burned for those who deserve it?\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

~Ayn Rand<\/strong>, Russian-American author & philosopher<\/p>\n

We the Living<\/em> (7 April 1936) New York: Macmillan<\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_tta_section][vc_tta_section i_icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-ban” add_icon=”true” title=”Misquotes” tab_id=”1453315829287-33b1178b-1c815381-89e5486b-50b8″][vc_column_text css_animation=”none”]\n

Re-quote notes<\/em><\/strong><\/span>: Following the success of her novel Atlas Shrugged<\/em>, Rand toned down her rhetoric and made changes to the cited passage for a revised edition & reprint of We the Living<\/em> in 1959. The passages from both editions can be viewed below:<\/p>\n

1936 original<\/u><\/strong> – \u201cDeny the best its right to the top \u2013 and you have no best left. What are<\/em> your masses but mud to be ground underfoot, fuel to be burned for those who deserve it? What is the people but millions of puny, shriveled, helpless souls<\/em> that have no thoughts of their own, no dreams of their own, no will of their own, who eat and sleep and chew helplessly the words others put into their mildewed brains?<\/span>”<\/p>\n

1959 edited version<\/u><\/strong> \u2013 \u201cDeny the best its right to the top \u2013 and you have no best left. What are<\/em> your masses but millions of dull, shriveled, stagnant souls that have no thoughts of their own, no dreams of their own, no will of their own, who eat and sleep and chew helplessly the words others put into their brains?<\/span>” (p. 80)<\/p>\n

[Re-quote source<\/em>: Ayn Rand, We the Living<\/em> (7 April 1936) New York: Signet, 1959 edited edition, 1983 paperback printing, p. 80]<\/span><\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_tta_section][vc_tta_section i_icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-plus-circle” add_icon=”true” title=”Context” tab_id=”1449531591631-43861bc7-da28094f-cf635381-89e5486b-50b8″][vc_column_text css_animation=”none”]\n

Extended excerpt<\/em><\/strong> [Fiction \u2013 character \u2018Kira Argounova\u2019 to \u2018Andrei Taganov.\u2019 Italic & text original to 1936 first edition of book]:<\/p>\n

\u201cDeny the best its right to the top \u2013 and you have no best left. What are<\/em> your masses but mud to be ground underfoot, fuel to be burned for those who deserve it?<\/span> What is the people but millions of puny, shriveled, helpless souls<\/em> that have no thoughts of their own, no dreams of their own, no will of their own, who eat and sleep and chew helplessly the words others put into their mildewed brains?”<\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_tta_section][vc_tta_section i_icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-search” add_icon=”true” title=”Source ID” tab_id=”1449531592891-f39e055b-a66e094f-cf635381-89e5486b-50b8″][vc_column_text css_animation=”none”]\n

 <\/p>\n

Source<\/em><\/strong> [Featured source]<\/span>: Library \u2013 We the Living<\/em> (1936) Online Computer Library Center (OCLC) No. 6059669<\/p>\n

Source<\/em><\/strong> [Re-quote note]<\/span>: Library \u2013 We the Living<\/em> (1936 | 1959 edit\/1983 Signet paperback) International Standard Book Number 0-451-15860-1<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_tta_section][\/vc_tta_tabs][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row css=”.vc_custom_1453316221301{margin-top: 0px !important;border-top-width: 0px !important;padding-top: 0px !important;}”][vc_column width=”1\/2″][vc_tta_tabs style=”modern” shape=”square” active_section=”1″][vc_tta_section i_icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-book” add_icon=”true” title=”Citation” tab_id=”1453315828001-b5e2e52e-ea1e5381-89e5486b-50b8″][vc_column_text css_animation=”none”]\n

Misattributed to Ayn Rand or Thomas Jefferson –\u00a0<\/span><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cThe democracy will cease to exist when you take away from those who are willing to work and give to those who would not<\/span>.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

~‘John Galt’<\/strong>, Anonymous author pseudonym<\/p>\n

Dreams Come Due: Government and Economics As If Freedom Mattered<\/em> (July 1986) New York, NY: Simon & Schuster, p. 312<\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_tta_section][vc_tta_section i_icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-ban” add_icon=”true” title=”Misquotes” tab_id=”1453315829287-33b1178b-1c815381-89e5486b-50b8″][vc_column_text css_animation=”none”]\n

Misattribution notes<\/em><\/strong><\/span>:<\/p>\n

A number of sources have incorrectly attributed the “…democracy will cease to exist…” quote to the author Ayn Rand<\/strong><\/span>. This is likely due to the fact that the anonymous Dreams Come Due<\/em> author used the pseudonym \u2018John Galt\u2019 \u2013 the name of a fictional character in Rand\u2019s book Atlas Shrugged. <\/em>The cited words here, however, also do not appear in Atlas Shrugged<\/em> nor in Rand\u2019s other published work or correspondence.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, a larger number of sources have also incorrectly attributed the quote to U.S. President Thomas Jefferson<\/span>.<\/strong> This misattribution appears to extend back to right around the same time the quote first appeared in print and digital sources in the mid-1980s.<\/p>\n

Jefferson estate archivist & researcher Anna Berkes<\/strong><\/span> notes that the quotation has not been found in any of the writings of the former president. The closest ideological match she found was in an editor\u2019s note from Jefferson that accompanied his prospectus on a translation of French Senator Destutt de Tracy’s\u00a0Treatise on Political Economy<\/em>. Notably, however, Jefferson is neither suggesting that “democracy will cease to exist,” nor opposing any governmental involvement in the distribution of wealth.<\/p>\n

We have included the quote (in blue) below within a longer excerpt of Jefferson\u2019s original text for context:<\/p>\n

\u201cThe reader, in deciding which basis of taxation is most eligible for the local circumstances of his country, will, of course, avail himself of the weighty observations of our author.<\/p>\n

To this a single observation shall yet be added. Whether property alone, and the whole of what each citizen possesses, shall be subject to contribution, or only its surplus after satisfying his first wants, or whether the faculties of body and mind shall contribute also from their annual earnings, is a question to be decided. But, when decided, and the principle settled, it is to be equally and fairly applied to all. To take from one, because it is thought that his own industry and that of his fathers has acquired too much, in order to spare to others, who, or whose fathers have not exercised equal industry and skill, is to violate arbitrarily the first principle of association, \u2014 \u201cthe guarantee<\/em> to every one of a free exercise of his industry, & the fruits acquired by\u00a0it<\/span>. If the overgrown wealth of an individual be deemed dangerous to the State, the best corrective is the law of equal inheritance to all in equal degree; and the better, as this enforces a law of nature, while extra-taxation violates it<\/span>.\u201d<\/p>\n

[Source<\/em><\/strong>: Thomas Jefferson, Letter & book prospectus to Joseph Milligan (6 April 1816) in The Writings of Thomas Jefferson<\/em>, Vols. 13-14, ed. Albert Ellery Bergh, Washington, D.C.: The Thomas Jefferson Memorial Association, 1907, p. 466; online via Google Books, books.google.com<\/a>]<\/span><\/p>\n

In her research, Ms. Berkes also located a likely original source of the quote: the 1986 book Dreams Come Due: Government and Economics as if Freedom Mattered <\/em>by an author using the pseudonym \u201cJohn Galt\u201d.<\/p>\n

Your Repeat Right editors have also conducted a more recent search of a number of different newspaper, government, book, and correspondence databases and agree that Dreams Come True<\/em> \u2013 a book noted by the Kirkus Review <\/em>as a \u201cmean-spirited thesaurus\u201d with a notable number of \u201cout-of-context quotations\u201d- may have been the origin of the quote.<\/p>\n

One thing is for certain \u2013 we also could not locate any evidence that the quote was in public circulation prior to the 1980s.<\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_tta_section][vc_tta_section i_icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-plus-circle” add_icon=”true” title=”Context” tab_id=”1453315829475-7c82a017-1e625381-89e5486b-50b8″][vc_column_text css_animation=”none”]\n

Extended excerpt<\/em><\/strong>: Please see “Misquote” tab for additional information.<\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_tta_section][vc_tta_section i_icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-search” add_icon=”true” title=”Source Link” tab_id=”1453315829682-63e8fade-cf4c5381-89e5486b-50b8″][vc_column_text css_animation=”none”]\n

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Source<\/em><\/strong> [Possible origin of quote & misattribution to Thomas Jefferson]<\/span>: Library \u2013 Dreams Come Due: Government and Economics As If Freedom Mattered<\/em> \u00a0(July 1986) International Standard Book Number (ISBN) 0-671-61159-3<\/p>\n

Source link<\/em><\/strong> [Anna Berkes, Jefferson researcher]<\/span>: \u201cThe democracy will cease to exist\u2026(Quotation)\u201d (6 March 2008) Spurious Quotations, The Jefferson Monticello: https:\/\/www.monticello.org\/site\/jefferson\/democracy-will-cease-exist-quotation#footnoteref1_1enpepr<\/a><\/p>\n

Source link<\/em><\/strong> [Related Jefferson quote – though still not a match]<\/span>: Thomas Jefferson, Letter & prospectus to Joseph Milligan (6 April 1816) Writings of Thomas Jefferso<\/em>n; online via Google Books: https:\/\/books.google.com\/books?id=marTAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA466&lpg=PA466&dq=To+take+from+one,+because+it+is+thought+that+his+own+industry+and+that+of+his+fathers+has+acquired+too+much<\/a><\/p>\n

Source link<\/span><\/em><\/strong> [Kirkus Review of Dreams Come Due<\/em>]<\/span>: Book review: \u201cDreams Come Due: Government and Economics as if Freedom Mattered\u201d (1986) Kirkus Review: https:\/\/www.kirkusreviews.com\/book-reviews\/john-galt\/dreams-come-due-government-and-economics-as-if-\/<\/a><\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_tta_section][\/vc_tta_tabs][\/vc_column][vc_column width=”1\/2″][vc_tta_tabs style=”modern” shape=”square” active_section=”1″][vc_tta_section i_icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-book” add_icon=”true” title=”Citation” tab_id=”1449531591105-7edf5f39-feaa094f-cf635381-89e5486b-50b8″][vc_column_text css_animation=”none”]\n

Misattributed to Ayn Rand – Likely Misquote:<\/i><\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

Misattibution\/misquote<\/u><\/em><\/span>: \u201cThe question isn\u2019t \u2018who is going to let me\u2019; it\u2019s \u2018who is going to stop me?<\/span>\u201d<\/p>\n

Similar idea found in Rand’s work<\/u><\/em>\u00a0[fictional dialogue]:<\/p>\n

\u201cMy dear fellow, who will let you?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s not the point. The point is, who will stop me?<\/span>\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

~Ayn Rand<\/strong>, Russian-American philosopher & author<\/p>\n

Repeating a line found in other works of literature & dramatic script, The Fountainhead<\/em> (1943) Indianapolis, IN: Bobbs-Merrill Co., 1943, Part I, p. 17<\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_tta_section][vc_tta_section i_icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-ban” add_icon=”true” title=”Misquotes” tab_id=”1453315829287-33b1178b-1c815381-89e5486b-50b8″][vc_column_text css_animation=”none”]\n

Misquote & misattribution notes<\/em><\/strong><\/span>:<\/p>\n

While the bold & confident question \u2018Who will stop me?<\/span>\u2019<\/strong> certainly isn\u2019t original to Rand\u2019s Fountainhead<\/em>, at least that cited segment of the quote does come directly from her book.<\/p>\n

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\u201cThe question isn\u2019t \u2018who is going to let me\u2019; it\u2019s \u2018who is going to stop me?<\/strong><\/span>\u201d is NOT found in The Fountainhead<\/em>, and we have also been unable to find phrase in any of Rand\u2019s other works. It appears to be a paraphrasing or misquote of the Fountainhead<\/em> line, and it proliferated online after it was included in editorials and at least one graduation speech in the mid-2000s.<\/p>\n

The Rand misquote\/misattribution also hit the news in 2013, after the clothing store \u201cForever 21\u201d elected to use the words on a tank-top that was being marketed to young consumers. \u00a0Although the retailer ultimately pulled the tank-top after it discovered that the quote was misattributed to Rand, the story \u2013 and the misquote \u2013 had already made the media rounds. Please see our \u201cSource Link\u201d tab for additional story links and details.<\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_tta_section][vc_tta_section i_icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-plus-circle” add_icon=”true” title=”Context” tab_id=”1453315829475-7c82a017-1e625381-89e5486b-50b8″][vc_column_text css_animation=”none”]\n

Extended excerpt<\/em><\/strong> [Fictional dialogue \u2013 \u2018Howard Roark,’ in an exchange with the Dean his school}:<\/p>\n

\u201cAn hour ago the Dean had wished that this interview would proceed as calmly as possible. Now he wished that Roark would display some emotion; it seem unnatural for him to be so quietly natural in the circumstances.<\/p>\n

\u201cDo you mean to tell me that you\u2019re thinking seriously of building that way<\/em>, when and if <\/em>you are an architect?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMy dear fellow, who will let you?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s not the point. The point is, who will stop me?<\/span>\u201d (p. 17)<\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_tta_section][vc_tta_section i_icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-search” add_icon=”true” title=”Source Link” tab_id=”1453315829682-63e8fade-cf4c5381-89e5486b-50b8″][vc_column_text css_animation=”none”]\n

Source<\/em><\/strong><\/span>: Editor\u2019s copy \u2013 The Fountainhead<\/em> (1943) Online Computer Library Center (OCLC) No. 878563057<\/p>\n

Source link <\/em><\/strong>[Rand misquote\/misattribution \u2013 Forever 21 tank top story]<\/span>: \u201cForever 21 Is Now Selling a Shirt with an Ayn Rand Quote On It. But do the chain\u2019s customers ever know what objectivism means?\u201d (10 October 2013) TIME newsfeed; via TIME archive [subscription service]: http:\/\/newsfeed.time.com\/2013\/10\/10\/forever-21-cashes-in-on-ayn-rands-objectivist-philisophy\/<\/a><\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_tta_section][\/vc_tta_tabs][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]\n

Resources<\/h4>\n[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text css_animation=”none” el_class=”Wrapper-Author-Resources”]Learn more about Ayn Rand\u00a0<\/strong><\/span>| Here are a few good places to start –<\/p>\n