To know one's own desires, their meaning and their costs requires the highest human virtue: rationality.
Ayn RandThe first right on earth is the right of the ego. Man's first duty is to himself. His moral law is never to place his prime goal within the persons of others. His moral obligation is to do what he wishes, provided his wish does not depend primarily upon other men.
Ayn RandWhen man learns to understand and control his own behavior as well as he is learning to understand and control the behavior of crop plants and domestic animals, he may be justified in believing that he has become civilized.
Ayn RandShe knew that even pain can be confessed, but to confess happiness is to stand naked, delivered to the witness.
Ayn Rand