It's true that there's no such thing as free will. We can't help what we are or what we do. It's not our fault. Nobody's to blame for anything. It's all in your background ... and your glands. If you're good, that's no achievement of yours - you were lucky in your glands. If you're rotten, nobody should punish you - you were unlucky, that's all.
Ayn RandEvery man builds his world in his own image. He has the power to choose, but no power to escape the necessity of choice.
Ayn RandI am not the means to any end others may wish to accomplish. I am not a tool for their use. I am not a servant of their needs. I am not a bandage for their wounds, I am not a sacrifice on their altars.
Ayn RandMy greatest personal mistake is ever to allow a word or moment that โdoesnโt count,โ i.e., that I do not refer to my own basic principles. Every word, every action, every moment counts. (This is the pattern on which everybody makes mistakes [or] becomes irrational โ not relating their one action or one conviction to another.
Ayn Rand