You don't have to see through the eyes of others, hold onto yours, stand on your own judgment, you know that what is, isโsay it aloud, like the holiest of prayers, and don't let anyone tell you otherwise.
Ayn RandThat something happened to you is of no importance to anyone, not even to you. The important thing about you is what you choose to make happen - your values and choices. That which happened by accident - what family you were born into, in what country, and where you went to school - is totally unimportant.
Ayn RandI cannot stand Tolstoy, and reading him was the most boring literary duty I ever had to perform, his philosophy and his sense of life are not merely mistaken, but evil, and yet, from a purely literary viewpoint, on his own terms, I have to evaluate him as a good writer.
Ayn RandWhen personal judgment is inoperative (or forbidden), men's first concern is not how to choose, but how to justify their choice
Ayn RandIt is morally obscene to regard wealth as an anonymous, tribal product and to talk about 'redistributing' it.
Ayn RandHappiness is not something you have in your hands; it's something you carry in your heart. Happiness is one thing that multiplies by division. Happiness is that peculiar sensation you acquire when you are too busy to be miserable. Happiness is that state of consciousness which proceeds from the achievement of one's values.
Ayn Rand