Atlas Shrugged

Any refusal to recognize reality, for any reason whatever, has disastrous consequences. There are no evil thoughts except one: the refusal to think. Don’t ignore your own desires, Mr. Rearden. Don’t sacrifice them. Examine their cause.

There’s no way to rule innocent men. The only power any government has is the power 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. Who wants a nation of law-abiding citizens? What’s there in that for any

You keep pushing out of your mind the thoughts which you believe to be evil. They do it, because they want to avoid effort.

“Free scientific inquiry? The first adjective is redundant.”

He was no worse than anybody, only smarter. Some get caught at it and some don’t—that’s the only difference. . . .

Whenever you think that you are facing a contradiction, check your premises. You will find that one of them is wrong.”

Intelligence? It is such a rare, precarious spark that flashes for a moment somewhere among men, and vanishes. One cannot tell its nature, or its future . . . or its death. . . .”

“I swear—by my life and my love of it—that I will never live for the sake of another man, nor ask another man to live for mine.”

“That’s what’s strange about him. I know that he’s a liar, a loafer, a cheap playboy, the most viciously irresponsible waste of a human being I ever imagined possible. Yet, when I look at him, I feel that if ever there was a man to whom I would entrust my life, he’s the one.”