Ayn Rand

The state is the most dangerous institution possible to man.

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

The only thing that can save the world is the independent, non-sacrificing, self-respecting, self-sufficient, and self-confident individual.

Happiness is a state of non-contradictory joy.

Civilization is the process of setting man free from men.

I could die for you. But I couldn't, and wouldn't, live for you.

The purpose of morality is to teach you not to suffer and die, but to enjoy yourself and live.

To sell your soul is the easiest thing in the world. All you have to do is surrender your reason.

The only good is the good of the individual. The only evil is the evil of the individual.

Reason is the only absolute.

A society that robs an individual of the product of his effort, or enslaves him, or attempts to limit the freedom of his mind, is not, strictly speaking, a society, but a mob held together by institutionalized gang-rule.

To be happy, one must be oneself.

The only alternative to reason is chaos.

The symbol of all relationships is the handshake.

When you see that money is exchanged for goods and services, not for favors and flattery, that your work is not a plea, but a demand, that no one can give you what you have not earned, and that no one can earn for you what you have not given, when you see that the men who get rich by conquest do so by force, and the men who get rich by trade do so by virtue, then you will know that money is the root of all good.

The only purpose of a government is to protect man's rights.

The state of a man's soul is reflected in his face.

It is not the rich who are the exploiters, but the poor.

The mind is an attribute of the individual. There is no such thing as a collective brain.

To love a woman is to love yourself.