Rand Quotes

I do believe people ought to be left alone. I don't care who you are or what you do at home or who your friends are or where you hang out, what kind of music you listen to, what you do in your home is your own business. That's always been who I am. I am a leave me alone kind of guy. ~ Rand Paul

Design is a way of life, a point of view. It involves the whole complex of visual communications: talent, creative ability, manual skill, and technical knowledge. Aesthetics and economics, technology and psychology are intrinsically related to the process. ~ Paul Rand

Whoever, to whatever purpose or extent, initiates the use of force, is a killer acting on the premise of death in a manner wider than murder: the premise of destroying man's capacity to live. ~ Ayn Rand

If you act for self-gain then no good can come of it. If you act selflessly, then you act well for all and you must not be afraid. ~ Rand Miller

We cannot stop now, even though it frightens us that we are alone in our knowledge. ~ Ayn Rand

Do not set out to write with your eyes on the box office. It can't be done. ~ Ayn Rand

One can't love man without hating most of the creatures who pretend to bear his name. It's one or the other. One doesn't love God and sacrilege impartially. Except when one doesn't know that sacrilege has been committed. Because one doesn't know God. ~ Ayn Rand

Anyway, the odds were against you. Most lost big, while only a few - " Rand paused dramatically " - won big."

"Since you're here, I suppose you won big."

He smiled. "Yelena, I'm always going to bet on you. You're like one of the Commander's terriers. A tiny, yappy dog you wouldn't look at twice, but once it grabs your pant leg, it won't let go."

"Poison the dog's meat and it won't bother you anymore. ~ Maria V. Snyder

I've wanted to want it. I should think it would be exciting to become a dissolute woman. ~ Ayn Rand

It was beautiful and rare, and you have every right to despise me."
She stood pressed to the wall, not moving.
"When you came in, I thought 'Send her away.' But I knew that if you went away, I'd run after you. I thought 'I won't say a word.' But I knew that you'd know it before you left. I love you. I know you'd think kindlier of me if I said that I hate you. ~ Ayn Rand

The president began this program by executive order. He should immediately end it by executive order. For over a year now, he has said the program is illegal, and yet he does nothing. ~ Rand Paul

I don't want my marriage or my guns registered in Washington. And if people have an opinion, it's a religious opinion that is heartly felt, obviously they should be allowed to practice that, and no government should interfere with them. ~ Rand Paul

In a reality, what we should be doing is having quiet diplomacy with the Russians to convince them that it's in their self-interest to have a more stable Middle East because trade enriches us all. ~ Rand Paul

He had never known fear because, against any disaster, he had held the omnipotent cure of being able to act. ~ Ayn Rand

It seemed natural; natural to the moment's peculiar reality that was sharply clear, but cut off from everything, immediate, but disconnected, like a bright island in a wall of fog, the heightened, unquestioning reality one feels when one is drunk. ~ Ayn Rand

We need to be fearful of companies that get so big that they can actually be directing policy. ~ Rand Paul

We wish to be damned with you, rather than blessed with all our brothers. Do ~ Ayn Rand

One's own independent judgment is the means by which one must choose one's actions, but it is not a moral criterion nor a moral validation; only reference to a demonstrable principle can validate one's choices. ~ Ayn Rand

Freedom is popular. Bring it on. ~ Rand Paul

To ask nothing. To expect nothing. To depend on nothing.
Dominique Francon ~ Ayn Rand

If ever you hear a man telling you that you must be happy, that it's your natural right, that your first duty is to yourself - that will be the man who's not after your soul. ~ Ayn Rand

Some in Washington say that you have to trade your liberty for security. ~ Rand Paul

I think ultimately that the rules that you make for gun control, people who are intent on killing themselves aren't too concerned with the rules. Law-abiding citizens are. ~ Rand Paul

There is really only one proper function: the protection of individual rights. ~ Ayn Rand

As we gain knowledge, we do not become more certain, we become certain of more. ~ Ayn Rand

Love is blind, they say; sex is impervious to reason and mocks the power of all philosophers. But, in fact, a man's sexual choice is the result and the sum of his fundamental convictions. Tell me what a man finds sexually attractive and I will tell you his entire philosophy on life. Show me the woman he sleeps with and I will tell you his valuation of himself. No matter what corruption he's taught about the virtue of selflessness, sex is the most profoundly selfish of all acts, an act which he cannot perform for any motive but his own enjoyment–just try to think of performing it in a spirit of selfless charity!–an act which is not possible in self-abasement, only in self-exaltation, only in confidence of being desired and being worthy of desire. ~ Ayn Rand

I can't compete and when I do, the rules of engagement change in the middle of the game. I'll let the powers that be vanquish themselves and return in three to five years to sift through the remains. ~ Ayn Rand

The genius must have his freedom and his independence. ~ Ayn Rand

The Democrats promised equalizing outcomes through unlimited federal assistance while Republicans offered something that seemed less tangible - the promise of equalizing opportunity through free markets. ~ Rand Paul

He did not own her, and she did not own him. The act of his movement so that they faced the same direction meant far more to her than other gesture could.

-Aviendha about Rand ~ Robert Jordan

There was an air of luxury about the room, but it was the luxury of expert simplicity. ~ Ayn Rand

Rand Paul ... said national health insurance is slavery. He said, I'm a physician, and if there's national health insurance, the government is forcing me to take care of somebody who is ill. Why should I be a slave to the state? Here we're getting capitalist pathology in its most extreme, lunatic form. It is the opposite of solidarity, mutual support, mutual help. ~ Noam Chomsky

I never did calligraphy ... But handwriting is an entirely different kind of thing. It's part of the syndrome of modernism ... It's part of that asceticism. ~ Paul Rand

A battle? What battle? I hold the whip hand. I don't fight the disarmed." "Are they? They have a weapon against you. It's their only weapon, but it's a terrible one. Ask yourself what it is, some time." "Where do you see any evidence of it?" "In the unforgivable fact that you're as unhappy as you are. ~ Ayn Rand

We still need to secure our southern border. The other thing I would say is we need to secure who visits us in the country. ~ Rand Paul

The structures were austere and simple, until one looked at them and realized what work, what complexity of method, what tension of thought had achieved the simplicity. ~ Ayn Rand

But those who were young had no thought left for spring and those who still thought were not young any longer. ~ Ayn Rand

I don't think I'm really open to having Washington change me. ~ Rand Paul

Their eyes were dark and hard and glowing, with no fear in them, no kindness and no guilt. ~ Ayn Rand

The precondition to freedom is security. ~ Rand Beers

Government can supply bread, but it can't mend a broken spirit. ~ Rand Paul

Within the extent of your knowledge, you are right. ~ Ayn Rand

Some Libertarians argue that Western occupation fans the flames of radical Islam; I agree. But I don't agree that, absent Western occupation, that radical Islam 'goes quietly into that good night.' ~ Rand Paul

You know, it's such a peculiar thing
our idea of mankind in general. We all have a sort of vague, glowing picture when we say that, something solemn, big and important. But actually all we know of it is the people we meet in our lifetime. Look at them. Do you know any you'd feel big and solemn about? There's nothing but housewives haggling at pushcarts, drooling brats who write dirty words on the sidewalks, and drunken debutantes. Or their spiritual equivalent. As a matter of fact, one can feel some respect for people when they suffer. They have a certain dignity. But have you ever looked at them when they're enjoying themselves? That's when you see the truth. Look at those who spend the money they've slaved for
at amusement parks and side shows. Look at those who're rich and have the whole world open to them. Observe what they pick out for enjoyment. Watch them in the smarter speak-easies. That's your mankind in general. I don't want to touch it. ~ Ayn Rand

Today, when a concerted effort is made to obliterate this point, it cannot be repeated too often that the Constitution is a limitation on the government, not on private individuals
that it does not prescribe the conduct of private individuals, only the conduct of the government
that it is not a charter _for_ government power, but a charter of the citizen's protection _against_ the government. ~ Ayn Rand

The only thing that can make a man do something he doesn't like is guilt ~ Ayn Rand

He did not smile at his employees, he did not take them out for drinks, he never inquired about their families, their love lives or their church attendance. He responded only to the essence of a man: to his creative capacity. In this office one had to be competent. There were no alternatives, no mitigating considerations. But if a man worked well, he needed nothing else to win his employer's benevolence: it was granted, not as a gift, but as a debt. It was granted, not as affection, but as recognition. It bred an immense feeling of self-respect within every man in that office. ~ Ayn Rand

If a company is second rate, the logo will eventually be perceived as second rate. It is foolhardy to believe that a logo will do its job immediately, before an audience has been properly conditioned. ~ Paul Rand

The important consideration is not your opponents, but yourself. It is bad to scream at them, not because it hurts them, they ought to be hurt, but because it hurts you. Anger is a form of recognition. It amounts to admitting that those people are important to you and that they have the power to hurt you. Actually, they haven't. ~ Ayn Rand

There is only one kind of men who have never been on strike in human history. Every other kind and class have stopped, when they so wished, and have presented demands to the world, claiming to be indispensable - except the men who have carried the world on their shoulders, have kept it alive, have endured torture as sole payment, but have never walked out on the human race. ~ Ayn Rand

92% of respondents reported that a positive recommendation from a friend,
family member, or someone they trust is the biggest influence on whether they buy a product or service. ~ Paul M. Rand

Civilization does not have to perish. The brutes are winning only by default. ~ Ayn Rand

I have heard of many tragic cases of walking, talking, normal children who wound up with profound mental disorders after vaccines. ~ Rand Paul

The beauty that men seek is half a dream
Where'er we wander, yet it lies afar; It touches with its wand a setting star, It stirs the ripple of an ebbing stream. And though we run beyond the dawning gleam, Or kneel to worship at an altar bright, We may not know the soul of its delight, Or more than marvel at its palest beam. ~ Kenneth Rand

there comes a point, in the defeat of any man of virtue, when his own consent is needed for evil to win - and ~ Ayn Rand

If capitalism had never existed, any honest humanitarian should have been struggling to invent it. But when you see men struggling to evade its existence, to misrepresent its nature, and to destroy its last remnants - you maybe sure that whatever their motives, love of man is not one of them. ~ Ayn Rand

Patience is always rewarded and romance is always round the corner! ~ Ayn Rand

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. ~ Ayn Rand

The conservatives want to rule man's consciousness; the liberals, his body. ~ Ayn Rand

Why yes, I can,' said Midas Mulligan, when he was asked whether he could name a person more evil than the man with a heart closed to pity. 'The man who uses another's pity for him as a weapon. ~ Ayn Rand

Sometimes, when you think the worst and nothing bad happens, you wonder why you ever thought it in the first place. ~ Johnathan Rand

Every aspect of Western culture needs a new code of ethics - a rational ethics - as a precondition of rebirth. ~ Ayn Rand

If workers struggle for higher wages, this is hailed as "social gains", if businessmen struggle for higher profits, this is damned as "selfish greed". ~ Ayn Rand

He stood looking at her. She knew that he did not see her. No, she thought, it was not that exactly. He always looked straight at people and his damnable eyes never missed a thing, it was only that he made people feel as if they did not exist. He just stood looking. ~ Ayn Rand

But a few understand that building is a great symbol we live in our minds, and existence is the attempt to bring that life into physical reality, to state it in gesture and form. For the man who understands this, a house he owns is a statement of his life. ~ Ayn Rand

Every form has its own meaning. Every man creates his meaning and form and goal. Why is it so important - what others have done? Why does it become sacred by the mere fact of not being your own? Why is anyone and everyone right - so long as it's not yourself? Why does the number of those others take the place of truth? Why is truth made a mere matter of arithmetic - and only of addition at that? Why is everything twisted out of all sense to fit everything else? There must be some reason. I don't know. I've never known it. I'd like to understand. ~ Ayn Rand

During the CPAC conference, Rand Paul told the crowd it was time for a new president and that people need to help make the change. Of course, most people agreed with him, since that's how term limits work. ~ Jimmy Fallon

Of course I need you. I go insane when I see you. You can do almost anything you wish with me. Is that what you want to hear? Almost, Dominique. And the things you couldn't make me do - you could put me through hell if you demanded them and I had to refuse you, as I would. Through utter hell, Dominique. Does that please you? Why do you want to know whether you own me? It's so simple. Of course you do. All of me that can be owned. You'll never demand anything else. But you want to know whether you could make me suffer. You could. What of it? The words did not sound like surrender, because they were not torn out of him, but admitted simply and willingly. She felt no thrill of conquest; she felt herself owned more than ever, by a man who could say these things, know them to be true, and still remain controlled and controlling - as she wanted him to remain. ~ Ayn Rand

This was reality, she thought, this sense of clear outlines, of purpose, of lightness, of hope. ~ Ayn Rand

The more propaganda ... conservatives spread for capitalist economics while at the same time preaching collectivism morally and philosophically , the more nails they'll drive into capitalism's coffin. ~ Ayn Rand

Join us in the fight to defeat the Washington machine. It's fun and easy to get started. You can make a difference and change the direction of our country! Join today. ~ Rand Paul

To demand 'sense' is the hallmark of nonsense. Nature does not make sense. Nothing makes sense. ~ Ayn Rand

Writing is serious business and not for any stray bastard that wants to try it. ~ Ayn Rand

I cannot be called upon to know a negative or to prove a negative. if there is a god and you prove it, that's fine. but you don't tell me you can't know that there isn't. i would say yes i know there isn't because i have been given no evidence. ~ Ayn Rand

He stood looking straight at her. Their understanding was too offensively intimate, because they had never said a word to each other. ~ Ayn Rand

I don't build in order to have clients. I have clients in order to build. ~ Ayn Rand

He thought of how convincingly he could describe this scene to friends and make them envy the fullness of his contentment. Why couldn't he convince himself? He had everything he'd ever wanted. He had wanted superiority
and for the last year he had been the undisputed leader of his profession. He had wanted fame
and he had five thick albums of clippings. He had wanted wealth
and he had enough to insure luxury for the rest of his life. He had everything anyone ever wanted. How many people struggled and suffered to achieve what he had achieved? How many dreamed and bled and died for this, without reaching it? ~ Ayn Rand

One night, lightning struck the oak tree. Eddie saw it the next morning. It lay broken in half, and he looked into its trunk as into the mouth of a black tunnel. The trunk was only an empty shell; its heart had rotted away long ago; there was nothing inside - just a thin gray dust that was being dispersed by the whim of the faintest wind. The living power had gone, and the shape it left had not been able to stand without it. Years ~ Ayn Rand

A man can't get sick just because he oughta. ~ Ayn Rand

Force and mind are opposites; morality ends where a gun begins. ~ Ayn Rand

As she looked at him, her dark gray eyes went slowly from astonishment to stillness, then to a strange expression that resembled a look of weariness, except that it seemed to reflect much more than the endurance of this one moment. ~ Ayn Rand

He felt safe in the oak tree's presence; it was a thing that nothing could change or threaten; it was his greatest symbol of strength. ~ Ayn Rand

I grew up reading Ayn Rand and it taught me quite a bit about who I am and what my value systems are, and what my beliefs are. ~ Paul Ryan

Mr. Roark, we're alone here. Why don't you tell me what you think of me? In any words you wish. No one will hear us." "But I don't think of you." Toohey ~ Ayn Rand

The power of the sky can be made to do men's bidding. There are no limits to its secrets and its might, and it can be made to grant us anything if we but choose to ask. ~ Ayn Rand

The main thing I say on war is that we need to obey the law and formally declare war. ~ Rand Paul

There was so calm, so natural, so total a certainty in the sound of her voice that the mere sound seemed to carry an immense persuasiveness. ~ Ayn Rand

We must protect ourselves from jihadis without losing ourselves. ~ Rand Paul

This is the strike of the men of the mind, Miss Taggart. This is the mind on strike. ~ Ayn Rand

How do you know when a woman wants to kill you?" Rand mused. "When she knows your name?" Dobraine did not sound as if he were joking. ~ Robert Jordan

Listen, here's something we can do: we can look at the moon, sometimes - and, you know, it's the same moon everywhere - and we would be looking at the same thing together that way, you see? ~ Ayn Rand

Dagny and Fransisco d'Anconia?" she said, smiling ruefully, in answer to the curiosity of her friends. "Oh no, it's not a romance. It's an international industrial cartel of some kind. ~ Ayn Rand

John, the self-made man, self-made in every sense, out of nowhere, penniless, parentless, tie-less ... but I've always thought of him as if he had come into the world like Minerva, the goddess of wisdom, who sprang forth from Jupiter's head, fully grown and fully armed. ~ Ayn Rand

To start here, in the United States. This country was the only country in history born, not of chance and blind tribal warfare, but as a rational product of man's mind. This country was built on the supremacy of reason - and, for one magnificent century, it redeemed the world. It will have to do so again. ~ Ayn Rand

Do you think nobody would willingly entrust his children to you and pay you for teaching them? Why do you have to extort your fees and collect your pupils by compulsion? ~ Ayn Rand

She sat beside him in the car, feeling no desire to speak, knowing that neither of them could conceal the meaning of their silence. ~ Ayn Rand

It's a curse, you know, to be able to look higher than you're allowed to reach. ~ Ayn Rand

I'll tell you what a weakness is of this country [the USA]: there are a lot of people who are sick and tired because Washington does not play by the same rules that the American people have to play by. ~ Rand Paul

My pride and my power of vision were all that I owned when I started - and whatever I achieved, was achieved by means of them. Both are greater now. Now I have the knowledge of the superlative value I had missed: of my right to be proud of my vision. The rest is mine to reach. ~ Ayn Rand

While, politically, a mixed economy preserves the semblance of an organized society with a semblance of law and order, economically it is the equivalent of the chaos that had ruled China for centuries: a chaos of robber gangs looting-and draining-the productive elements of the country. ~ Ayn Rand