The choice--the dedication to one's highest potential--is made by accepting the fact that the noblest act you have ever performed is the act of your mind in the process of grasping that two and two make four.
John GaltThe self you have betrayed is your mind; self-esteem is reliance on oneโs power to think. The ego you seek, that essential โyouโ which you cannot express or define, is not your emotions or inarticulate dreams, but your intellect, that judge of your supreme tribunal whom youโve impeached in order to drift at the mercy of any stray shyster you describe as your โfeeling.โ
John GaltIf there are degrees of evil, it is hard to say who is more contemptible: the brute who assumes the right to force the mind of others or the moral degenerate who grants to others the right to force his mind.
John GaltAn attempt to gain a value by deceiving the mind of others is an act of raising your victims to a position higher than reality.
John Galt