The word which can never die on this earth, for it is the heart of it and the meaning and the glory. The sacred word: EGO.

What is the basic, the essential, the crucial principle that differentiates freedom from slavery? It is the principle of voluntary action versus physical coercion or compulsion.

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.

to rest one's case on faith means to concede that reason is on the side of one's enemies- that one has no rational arguments to offer.

There is nothing wrong in helping other people, if and when they are worthy of the help and you can afford to help them.

I am only concerned with politics so I may see the day when I don't have to be concerned with politics.

Ferris: Are you going to be as impractical as that? Rearden: The evaluation of an action as practical, Dr. Ferris, depends on what it is that one wishes to practice. Ferris: Haven't you always placed your self-interest above all else? Rearden: That is what I am doing right now.