A few excerpts from Ayn Rand's
writings:
"The thinking child is not antisocial (he is, in fact, the
only type of child fit for social relationships). When he develops his first values and
conscious convictions, particularly as he approaches adolescence, he feels an intense
desire to share them with a friend who would understand him; if frustrated, he feels an
acute sense of loneliness. (Loneliness is specifically the experience of this type of
child - or adult; it is the experience of those who have something to offer. The emotion
that drives conformists to "belong," is not loneliness, but fear - the fear of
intellectual indepence and responsability. The thinking child seeks equals; the conformist
seeks protectors.)" ("The Comprachicos", The New Left: The Anti-Industrial
Revolution)
"Romantic love, in the full sense of the term, is an emotion
possible only to the man (or woman) of unbreached self-esteem: it is his response to his
own highest values in the person of another - an integrated response of mind and body,
love and sexual desire. Such a man (or woman) is incapable of experiencing a sexual desire
divorced from spiritual values." ("Of Living Death", The Objectivist)
"In any compromise between food and poison, it is only death
that can win. In any compromise between good and evil, it is only evil that can
profit." (Galt's Speech, Atlas Shrugged)
"The moral justification of capitalism does not lie
in the altruist claim that it represents the best way to achieve "the common
good". It is true that capitalism does - if that catch-phrase has any meaning - but
this is merely a secondary consequence. The moral justification of capitalism lies in the
fact that it is the only system consonant with man's rational nature, that it protects
man's survival qua man, and that its ruling principle is: justice."
("What Is Capitalism?", Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal)
"For centuries, the battle of morality was fought between
those who claimed that your life belongs to God and those who claimed that it belongs to
your neighbors - between those who preached that the good is self-sacrifice for the sake
of ghosts in heaven and those who preached that the good is self-sacrifice for the sake of
incompetents on earth. And no one came to say that your life belongs to you and that the
good is to live it." (Galt's Speech, Atlas Shrugged)
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Philosophy: Who Needs It?
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