There are no white lies, there is only the blackest of destruction, and a white lie is the blackest of all.

Science was born as a result and consequence of philosophy; it cannot survive without a philosophical base. If philosophy perishes, science will be next to go.

But you see," said Roark quietly, "I have, let’s say, sixty years to live. Most of that time will be spent working. I’ve chosen the work I want to do. If I find no joy in it, then I’m only condemning myself to sixty years of torture. And I can find the joy only if I do my work in the best way possible to me. But the best is a matter of standards—and I set my own standards. I inherit nothing. I stand at the end of no tradition. I may, perhaps, stand at the beginning of one.

When personal judgment is inoperative (or forbidden), men's first concern is not how to choose, but how to justify their choice

Faith and force ... are corollaries: every period of history dominated by mysticism, was a period of statism, of dictatorship, of tyranny.

There is only one source of authentic self-confidence: reason.

Capitalism is a social system based on the recognition of individual rights, including property rights, in which all property is privately owned.