Ayn Rand Quotes & Sayings

“A creative man is motivated by the desire to achieve, not by the desire to beat others.”

“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.”

“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).”

“Money is only a tool. It will take you wherever you wish, but it will not replace you as the driver.”

“Every man builds his world in his own image. He has the power to choose, but no power to escape the necessity of choice.”

“To say 'I love you' one must first be able to say the 'I.'”

“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.”

“The question isn't who is going to let me; it's who is going to stop me.”

“Civilization is the progress toward a society of privacy. The savage's whole existence is public, ruled by the laws of his tribe. Civilization is the process of setting man free from 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.”