Leonard Peikoff Quotes

• The unphilosophical majority among men are the ones most helplessly dependent on their era's dominant ideas.

  Leonard Peikoff

  Men, Ideas, Majority

  Leonard Peikoff (1983). “Ominous Parallels”, p.179, Penguin

  50 Copy quote

• To save the world is the simplest thing in the world. All one has to do is think.

  Leonard Peikoff

  Thinking, World, Save The World

  Leonard Peikoff (1993). “Objectivism: The Philosophy of Ayn Rand”, p.388, Penguin

  18 Copy quote

• The unphilosophical majority among men are the ones most helplessly dependent on their era's dominant ideas. In times of crises these men need the guidance of some kind of theory; but, being unfamiliar with the field of ideas, they do not know that alternatives to the popular theories are possible. They know only what they have always been taught.

  Leonard Peikoff

  Men, Ideas, Majority

  Leonard Peikoff (1983). “Ominous Parallels”, p.179, Penguin

  18 Copy quote

• The more you learn, if you learn it properly, the more clear you become and the more you know.

  Leonard Peikoff

  Clear, Knows, Ifs

  Leonard Peikoff (1993). “Objectivism: The Philosophy of Ayn Rand”, p.116, Penguin

  7 Copy quote

• Each man must reach his own verdict, by weighing all the relevant evidence.

  Leonard Peikoff

  Men, Relevant, Evidence

  17 Copy quote

• Unlike the Marxists, the Nazis did not advocate public ownership of the means of production. They did demand that the government oversee and run the nation's economy. The issue of legal ownership is secondary; what counts is the issue of control. Private citizens, therefore, may continue to hold titles to property-so long as the state res...erves to itself the unqualified right to regulate the use of their property.

  Leonard Peikoff

  Running, Mean, Government

  9 Copy quote

• Objectivism advocates reason as man's sole means of knowledge, and therefore, for the reasons I have already given, it is atheist. It denies any supernatural dimension presented as a contradiction of nature, of existence. This applies not only to God, but also to every variant of the supernatural ever advocated or to be advocated. In other words, we accept reality, and that's all.

  Leonard Peikoff

  Atheist, Mean, Reality

  9 Copy quote

• The worse the coming future, the more it should motivate its opponents.

  Leonard Peikoff

  Opponents, Should

  7 Copy quote

• To send a child to rot in the prison of Cuba for the alleged sake of his own well-being is criminal hypocrisy.

  Leonard Peikoff

  Children, Hypocrisy, Criminals

  8 Copy quote

• What one needs to know in order to appraise a man morally is not: what did his mother say or do when he was three? The proper question is: what does he say and do now?

  Leonard Peikoff

  Mother, Men, Order

  Leonard Peikoff (1993). “Objectivism: The Philosophy of Ayn Rand”, p.240, Penguin

  7 Copy quote

• Ayn Rand held that art is a 're-creation of reality according to an artist's metaphysical value-judgements.' By its nature, therefore, a novel (like a statue or a symphony) does not require or tolerate an explanatory preface; it is a self-contained universe, aloof from commentary, beckoning the reader to enter, perceive, respond.

  Leonard Peikoff

  Art, Reality, Self

  8 Copy quote

• Now if you ask me, in conclusion, "Well, what, then should properly be done?" Obviously war, but I mean in regard to this issue I would say: Any way possible permission should be refused and if they go ahead and build it, the government should bomb it out of existence, evacuating it first, with no compensation to any of the property owners involved in this monstrosity.

  Leonard Peikoff

  War, Mean, Government

  "What do you think of the plan for a mosque in New York City near Ground Zero?". Podcast, June 28, 2010.

  10 Copy quote

• Now, the United States' response, the western response to this is a continuation of the appeasement that was started back in the '50s with Eisenhower when Iran seized western oil companies. The Americans, the British, and the Israelis, as I remember, launched an attack to try to reclaim it and - or at least the British and the Israelis did and Eisenhower vetoed it.

  Leonard Peikoff

  Iran, Oil, Trying

  "What do you think of the plan for a mosque in New York City near Ground Zero?". Podcast on peikoff.com, June 28, 2010.

  7 Copy quote

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