There is a fundamental moral difference between a man who sees his self-interest in production and a man who sees it in robbery. The evil of a robber does not lie in the fact that he pursues his own interests, but in what he regards as to his own interest; not in the fact that he pursues his values, but in what he chose to value; not in the fact that he wants to live, but in the fact that he wants to live on a subhuman level.
Ayn RandScience was born as a result and consequence of philosophy; it cannot survive without a philosophical base. If philosophy perishes, science will be next to go.
Ayn RandThere is no such dichotomy as 'human rights' versus 'property rights.' No human rights can exist without property rights.
Ayn RandIdeas, in a free society, are not a crime- and neither can they serve as the justification of a crime.
Ayn RandI understood that centuries of chains and lashes will not kill the spirit of man nor the sense of truth within him.
Ayn RandIt's the person who would sell his soul for a nickel, who is loudest in proclaiming his hatred of money.... Let me give you a tip on men's characters: the man who damns money has obtained it dishonorably; the man who respects it has earned it. Run for your life from any man who tells you that money is evil. That sentence is the...bell of an approaching looter.
Ayn Rand