What I want you to understand, is the full evil of those who claim to have become convinced that this earth, by its nature, is a realm of malevolence where the good has no chance to win. Let them check their premises. Let them check their standards of value. Let them check - before they grant themselves the unspeakable license of evil-as-necessity - whether they know what is the good and what are the conditions it requires.

Nobody has ever given a reason why men should be their brother's keepers.

Civilization is the process of setting man free from men.

every man is free to rise as far as he's able or willing, but the degree to which he thinks determines the degree to which he'll rise.

Independence is the recognition of the fact that yours is the responsibility of judgment and nothing can help you escape it-that no substitute can do your thinking, as no pinch-hitter can live your life-that the vilest form of self-abasement and self-destruction is the subordination of your mind to the mind of another, the acceptance of an authority over your brain, the acceptance of his assertions as facts, his say-so as truth, his edicts as middle-man between your consciousness and your existence.

A moment or an eternity—did it matter? Life, undefeated, existed and could exist.

The more you learn, the more you know that you know nothing.