The difference between a welfare state and a totalitarian state is a matter of time.

A culture is made — or destroyed — by its articulate voices.

About Mike the construction worker, friend of Roark: "He worshipped expertness of any kind. He loved his work passionately and had no tolerance for anything save for other single-track devotions. He was a master in his own filed and felt no sympathy except for mastery. His view of the world was simple: there were the able and there were the incompetent; he was not concerned with the latter."

When I die, I hope to go to Heaven, whatever the Hell that is.

But there are people who'll try to hurt you through the good they see in you--knowing that it's the good, needing it and punishing you for it. Don't let it break you when you discover that.

the worst wars are religious wars between sects of the same religion or civil wars between brothers of the same race.

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