Ayn Rand Quotes About Goals

• A desire presupposes the possibility of action to achieve it; action presupposes a goal which is worth achieving.

  Ayn Rand

  Inspirational, Witty, Goal

  Ayn Rand (2016). “Atlas Shrugged”, p.286, Hamilton Books

• Joy is the goal of existence, and joy is not to be stumbled upon, but to be achieved, and the act of treason is to let its vision drown in the swamp of the moment's torture.

  Ayn Rand

  Philosophy, Goal, Joy

  Ayn Rand (2016). “Atlas Shrugged”, p.711, Hamilton Books

• The goal of the 'liberals' - as it emerges from the record of the past decades - was to smuggle this country into welfare statism by means of single, concrete, specific measures, enlarging the power of the government a step at a time, never permitting these steps to be summed up into principles, never permitting their direction to be identified or the basic issue to be named. Thus, statism was to come, not by vote or by violence, but by slow rot - by a long process of evasion and epistemological corruption, leading to a fait accompli.

  Ayn Rand

  Country, Mean, Past

• Capitalism has created the highest standard of living ever known on earth. The evidence is incontrovertible. The contrast between West and East Berlin is the latest demonstration, like a laboratory experiment for all to see. Yet those who are loudest in proclaiming their desire to eliminate poverty are loudest in denouncing capitalism. Man's well-being is not their goal.

  Ayn Rand

  Men, East Berlin, Goal

  Ayn Rand, Nathaniel Branden, Alan Greenspan, Robert Hessen (1986). “Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal”, p.126, Penguin

• My happiness is not the means to any end. It is the end. It is its own goal. It is its own purpose.

  Ayn Rand

  Happiness, Mean, Goal

  Ayn Rand (2016). “Anthem”, p.46, Xist Publishing

• ...If peace were the goal of today's intellectuals, a failure of that magnitude -- and the evidence of unspeakable suffering on so large a scale -- would make them pause and check their statist premises. Instead, blind to everything but their hatred for capitalism, they are now asserting that 'poverty breeds wars' ... But the question is: What breeds poverty? If you look a the world of today and if you look back at history, you will see the answer: the degree of a country's freedom is the degree of its prosperity.

  Ayn Rand

  Country, War, Goal

• Politically, the goal of today’s dominant trend is statism. Philosophically, the goal is the obliteration of reason; psychologically, it is the erosion of ambition.

  Ayn Rand

  Philosophy, Ambition, Erosion

  Ayn Rand (1990). “The Voice of Reason: Essays in Objectivist Thought”, p.229, Penguin

• All life is a purposeful struggle, and your only choice is the choice of a goal.

  Ayn Rand

  Inspirational, Life, Struggle

  Ayn Rand (1963). “For the New Intellectual: The Philosophy of Ayn Rand (50th Anniversary Edition)”, p.155, Penguin

• Poverty is not a mortgage on the labor of others-misfortu ne is not a mortgage on achievement-fai lure is not a mortgage on success-sufferi ng is not a claim check, and its relief is not the goal of existence-man is not a sacrificial animal on anyone’s altar nor for anyone’s cause-life is not one huge hospital.

  Ayn Rand

  Animal, Men, Goal

• I know not if this earth on which I stand is the core of the universe or if it is but a speck of dust lost in eternity. I know not and I care not. For I know what happiness is possible to me on earth. And my happiness needs no higher aim to vindicate it. My happiness is not the means to any end. It is the end. It is its own goal. It is its own purpose.

  Ayn Rand

  Happiness, Being Happy, Philosophy

  Ayn Rand (2016). “Anthem”, p.46, Xist Publishing

• Every form has its own meaning. Every man creates his meaning and form and goal. Why is it so important - what others have done? Why does it become sacred by the mere fact of not being your own? Why is anyone and everyone right - so long as it's not yourself? Why does the number of those others take the place of truth? Why is truth made a mere matter of arithmetic - and only of addition at that? Why is everything twisted out of all sense to fit everything else? There must be some reason. I don't know. I've never known it. I'd like to understand.

  Ayn Rand

  Truth, Men, Numbers

  Ayn Rand (2005). “The Fountainhead”, p.23, Penguin

• Rulers exist entirely through the persons of others. Their goal is in their subjects, in the activity of enslaving. They are as dependent as the beggar, the social worker and the bandit. The form of dependence does not matter.

  Ayn Rand

  Goal, Political, Doe

  Ayn Rand (1999). “Ayn Rand Reader”, p.76, Penguin

• Hence the sterile, uninspiring futility of a great many theoretical discussions of ethics, and the resentment which many people feel towards such discussions: moral principles remain in their minds as floating abstractions, offering them a goal they cannot grasp and demanding that they reshape their souls in its image, thus leaving them with a burden of undefinable moral guilt.

  Ayn Rand

  Offering, People, Goal

• I am older than you. Believe me, there is no other way to live on earth. Men are not open to truth or reason. They cannot be reached by a rational argument. The mind is powerless against them. Yet we have to deal with them. If we want to accomplish anything, we have to deceive them into letting us accomplish it. Or force them. They understand nothing else. We cannot expect their support for any endeavor of the intellect, for any goal of the spirit. They are nothing but vicious animals. They are greedy, self-indulgent, predatory dollar-chasers

  Ayn Rand

  Believe, Animal, Men

• The only thing that matters my goal my reward my beginning my end is the work itself. My work done my way. A private personal selfish egotistical motivation. That’s the only way I function. That’s all I am.

  Ayn Rand

  Motivation, Selfish, Goal

• The first right on earth is the right of the ego. Man's first duty is to himself. His moral law is never to place his prime goal within the persons of others. His moral obligation is to do what he wishes, provided his wish does not depend primarily upon other men.

  Ayn Rand

  Independent, Men, Rights

  Ayn Rand (1999). “Ayn Rand Reader”, p.76, Penguin

• I like to receive money for my work. But I can pass that up this time. I like to have people know my work is done by me. But I can pass that up. I like to have tenants made happy by my work. But that doesn't matter too much. The only thing that matters, my goal, my reward, my beginning, my end is the work itself. My work done my way. Peter, there's nothing in the world that you can offer me, except this. Offer me this and you can have anything I've got to give. My work done my way. A private, personal, selfish, egotistical motivation. That's the only way I function. That's all I am.

  Ayn Rand

  Motivation, Selfish, People

  Ayn Rand (2005). “The Fountainhead”, p.553, Penguin

• Virtue is not an end in itself. Virtue is not its own reward or sacrificial fodder for the reward of evil. Life is the reward of virtue-and happiness is the goal and the reward of life.

  Ayn Rand

  Evil, Goal, Rewards

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

• Man’s rights can be violated only by the use of physical force. It is only by means of physical force that one man can deprive another of his life, or enslave him, or rob him, or prevent him from pursuing his own goals, or compel him to act against his own rational judgment.

  Ayn Rand

  Mean, Men, Rights

  Ayn Rand, Nathaniel Branden, Alan Greenspan, Robert Hessen (1986). “Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal”, p.314, Penguin

• Competition is a by-product of productive work, not its goal.

  Ayn Rand

  Productive Work, Goal, Achievement

  Ayn Rand (1988). “The Ayn Rand Lexicon: Objectivism from A to Z”, p.99, Penguin

• Happiness is a state of non-contradictory joy . . . Happiness is possible only to a rational man, the man who desires nothing but rational goals,
  seeks nothing but rational values, and finds his joy in nothing but rational actions.

  Ayn Rand

  Men, Goal, Joy

  Ayn Rand (1963). “For the New Intellectual: The Philosophy of Ayn Rand (50th Anniversary Edition)”, p.107, Penguin

• Politically, the goal of today’s dominant trend is statism. Philosophically , the goal is the obliteration of reason; psychologically , it is the erosion of ambition. The political goal presupposes the two others. The human characteristic required by statism is docility, which is the product of hopelessness and intellectual stagnation. Thinking men cannot be ruled; ambitious men do not stagnate.

  Ayn Rand

  Ambition, Men, Thinking

  Ayn Rand (1990). “The Voice of Reason: Essays in Objectivist Thought”, p.229, Penguin

• Life is the reward of virtue. And happiness is the goal and reward of life.

  Ayn Rand

  Goal, Rewards, Life Is

  Ayn Rand (1988). “The Ayn Rand Lexicon: Objectivism from A to Z”, p.521, Penguin

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