Ayn Rand Quotes About Emotions

• There are two principles on which all men of intellectual integrity and good will can agree, as a 'basic minimum,' as a precondition of any discussion, co-operation or movement toward an intellectual Renaissance. . . . They are not axioms, but until a man has proved them to himself and has accepted them, he is not fit for an intellectual discussion. These two principles are: a. that emotions are not tools of cognition; b. that no man has the right to initiate the use of physical force against others.

  Ayn Rand

  Integrity, Men, Two

• Rationalization is a process of not perceiving reality, but of attempting to make reality fit one’s emotions.

  Ayn Rand

  Reality, Emotion, Fit

  Ayn Rand (1984). “Philosophy: Who Needs It”, p.25, Penguin

• One must differentiate between one's thoughts and one's emotions with full clarity and precision...No discussion, cooperation, agreement, or understanding is possible among men who substitute emotion for proof.

  Ayn Rand

  Men, Understanding, Cooperation

• An emotion as much tells you nothing about reality, beyond the fact that something makes you feel something.

  Ayn Rand

  Love, Dream, Reality

  Ayn Rand (1988). “The Ayn Rand Lexicon: Objectivism from A to Z”, p.159, Penguin

• Whenever anyone accuses some person of being 'unfeeling,' he means that that person is just. He means that that person has no causeless emotions and will not grant him a feeling which he does not deserve. He means that 'to feel' is to go against reason, against moral values, against reality.

  Ayn Rand

  Mean, Reality, Justice

  Ayn Rand (2005). “Atlas Shrugged”, p.842, Penguin

• A rational man knows-or makes it a point to discover-the source of his emotions, the basic premises from which they come.

  Ayn Rand

  Men, Emotion, Source

  Ayn Rand (1999). “Ayn Rand Reader”, p.301, Penguin

• He liked to observe emotions; they were like red lanterns strung along the dark unknown of another's personality, marking vulnerable points.

  Ayn Rand

  Dark, Personality, Red

  Ayn Rand (2016). “Atlas Shrugged”, p.15, Hamilton Books

• An emotion is an automatic response, an automatic effect of man's value premises. An effect, not a cause. There is no necessary clash, no dichotomy between man's reason and his emotions

  Ayn Rand

  Men, Causes, Emotion

  Ayn Rand (1988). “The Ayn Rand Lexicon: Objectivism from A to Z”, p.159, Penguin

• What you think is an illusion created by your glands, your emotions and, in the last analysis, by the content of your stomach. That gray matter you're so proud of is like a mirror in an amusement park which transmits to you nothing but distorted signals from reality forever beyond your grasp.

  Ayn Rand

  Reality, Thinking, Mirrors

  Ayn Rand (2016). “Atlas Shrugged”, p.260, Hamilton Books

• Happiness is not to be achieved at the command of emotional whims.

  Ayn Rand

  Happiness, Happy Life, Emotional

  Ayn Rand (1988). “The Ayn Rand Lexicon: Objectivism from A to Z”, p.212, Penguin

• Emotions are not tools of cognition. They tell you nothing about the nature of reality.

  Ayn Rand

  Reality, Cognition, Tools

• Rationalization is a cover-up, a process of providing one's emotions with a false identity, of giving them spurious explanations and justifications - in order to hide one's motives, not just from others, but primarily from oneself. The price of rationalizing is the hampering, the distortion, and, ultimately, the destruction of one's cognitive faculty. Rationalization is a process not of perceiving reality, but of attempting to make reality fit one's emotions.

  Ayn Rand

  Reality, Order, Giving

  Ayn Rand (1984). “Philosophy: Who Needs It”, p.25, Penguin

• This was the great clarity of being beyond emotion, after the reward of having felt everything one could feel.

  Ayn Rand

  Rewards, Emotion, Clarity

  Ayn Rand (2016). “Atlas Shrugged”, p.130, Hamilton Books

• Emotions are inherent in your nature, but their content is dictated by your mind. Your emotional capacity is an empty motor, and your values are the fuel with which your mind fills it.

  Ayn Rand

  Emotional, Mind, Fuel

  Ayn Rand (2005). “Atlas Shrugged”, p.964, Penguin

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