Ayn Rand

The state is a tool of the exploiters.

The worst sin is to be selfless.

The purpose of man's life is his own happiness.

To exist is to be an entity, an identity, a unit.

The only power that can destroy a man is the power of his own mind.

If any civilization is to survive, it is the morality of altruism that men have to reject.

Civilization is the progress toward a society of privacy. The savage's whole existence is public, ruled by the laws of his tribe.

Money is the barometer of a society's virtue.

I am not primarily an advocate of capitalism, but of egoism; and I am not primarily an advocate of egoism, but of reason. If one recognizes the supremacy of reason and applies it consistently, all the rest follows.

The truth is not for all men, but only for those who seek it.

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.

The man who does not value himself, cannot value anything or anyone.

Contradictions do not exist. Whenever you think you are facing a contradiction, check your premises. You will find that one of them is wrong.

The most depraved type of human being is the man without a purpose.

The man who lets a leader prescribe his course is a wreck being towed to the scrap heap.

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.

The hardest thing to explain is the glaringly evident which everybody has decided not to see.

The man who speaks to you of sacrifice, speaks of slaves and masters. And intends to be the master.

The worst guilt is to accept an unearned guilt.

The man who refuses to judge, who neither agrees nor disagrees, who declares that there are no absolutes and believes that he escapes responsibility, is the man responsible for all the blood that is now spilled in the world.