Collectivism requires self-sacrifice, the subordination of one's interests to those of others.

A quest for self-respect is proof of its lack

She's a writer. The kind of writer who wouldn't be published outside. She believes that when one deals with words, one deals with the mind.

No matter how vast your knowledge or how modest, it is your own mind that has to acquire it. It is only with your own knowledge that you can deal. It is only your own knowledge that you can claim to possess or ask others to consider. Your mind is your only judge of truth - and if others dissent from your verdict, reality is the court of final appeal. Nothing but a man's mind can perform that complex, delicate, crucial process of identification which is thinking. Nothing can direct the process but his own judgment. Nothing can direct his judgment but his moral integrity.

She thought: at this moment, the glass stem between his fingers feels just like the one between mine. We have this much in common.

Roark smiled, "Gail, if this boat were sinking, I'd give my life to save you. Not because it's any kind of duty. Only because I like you, for reasons and standards of my own. I could die for you. But I couldn't and wouldn't live for you.

I think it's a sin to sit down and let your life go without making a try for it.