Ayn Rand Quotes About Philosophy

• The smallest minority on earth is the individual. Those who deny individual rights cannot claim to be defenders of minorities.

  Ayn Rand

  Philosophy, Humor, Rights

  Ayn Rand (1964). “The Virtue of Selfishness”, p.125, Penguin

• An inventor is a man who asks 'Why?' of the universe and lets nothing stand between the answer and his mind.

  Ayn Rand

  Philosophy, Men, Political

  Ayn Rand (1963). “For the New Intellectual: The Philosophy of Ayn Rand (50th Anniversary Edition)”, p.133, Penguin

• My philosophy, in essence, is the concept of man as a heroic being, with his own happiness as the moral purpose of his life, with productive achievement as his noblest activity, and reason as his only absolute.

  Ayn Rand

  Life, Philosophy, Men

  Ayn Rand (1988). “The Ayn Rand Lexicon: Objectivism from A to Z”, p.351, Penguin

• I started my life with a single absolute: that the world was mine to shape in the image of my highest values and never to be given up to a lesser standard, no matter how long or hard the struggle.

  Ayn Rand

  Philosophy, Struggle, Long

  Ayn Rand (2016). “Atlas Shrugged”, p.620, Hamilton Books

• The greatest threat to mankind and civilization is the spread of the totalitarian philosophy. Its best ally is not the devotion of its followers but the confusion of its enemies. To fight it, we must understand it.

  Ayn Rand

  Philosophy, Fighting, Civilization

• Devotion to the truth is the hallmark of morality; there is no greater, nobler, more heroic form of devotion than the act of a man who assumes the responsibility of thinking.

  Ayn Rand

  Philosophy, Responsibility, Men

  Ayn Rand (1988). “The Ayn Rand Lexicon: Objectivism from A to Z”, p.410, Penguin

• An attempt to achieve the good by force is like an attempt to provide a man with a picture gallery at the price of cutting out his eyes.

  Ayn Rand

  Philosophy, Eye, Cutting

  Ayn Rand, Nathaniel Branden, Alan Greenspan, Robert Hessen (1986). “Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal”, p.21, Penguin

• Rationality is the recognition of the fact that nothing can alter the truth and nothing can take precedence over that act of perceiving it.

  Ayn Rand

  Philosophy, Facts, Recognition

  Ayn Rand (1963). “For the New Intellectual: The Philosophy of Ayn Rand (50th Anniversary Edition)”, p.103, Penguin

• 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

• Let no man posture as an advocate of peace if he proposes or supports any social system that initiates the use of force against individual men, in any form.

  Ayn Rand

  Peace, Philosophy, Men

  Ayn Rand (1963). “For the New Intellectual: The Philosophy of Ayn Rand (50th Anniversary Edition)”, p.47, Penguin

• It was the greatest sensation of existence: not to trust but to know.

  Ayn Rand

  Trust, Philosophy, Greatness

  Ayn Rand (1999). “Ayn Rand Reader”, p.180, Penguin

• Anyone who fights for the future, lives in it today.

  Ayn Rand

  Philosophy, Future, Fighting

  "The Romantic Manifesto". Book by Ayn Rand, 1969.

• Since religion is a primitive form of philosophy — an attempt to offer a comprehensive view of reality — many of its myths are distorted, dramatized allegories based on some element of truth, some actual, if profoundly elusive, aspect of man's existence.

  Ayn Rand

  Philosophy, Reality, Views

  "The Ayn Rand Lexicon: Objectivism from A to Z".

• I never found beauty in longing for the impossible and never found the possible to be beyond my reach.

  Ayn Rand

  Philosophy, Impossible, Longing

• In order to live, man must act; in order to act, he must make choices; in order to make choices, he must define a code of values; in order to define a code of values, he must know what he is and where he is – i.e. he must know his own nature (including his means of knowledge) and the nature of the universe in which he acts – i.e. he needs metaphysics, epistemology, ethics, which means: philosophy. He cannot escape from this need; his only alternative is whether the philosophy guiding him is to be chosen by his mind or by chance.

  Ayn Rand

  Philosophy, Mean, Men

  "Philosophy, who needs it?". Book by Ayn Rand, 1982.

• Identify the dominant philosophy of a society and you can predict its future.

  Ayn Rand

  Philosophy, Dominant

• All work is an act of philosophy.

  Ayn Rand

  Philosophy, Work

  Ayn Rand (2011). “Ayn Rand Novel Collection”, p.1853, 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.

  Ayn Rand

  Philosophy, Ambition, Erosion

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

• Tell me what a person finds sexually attractive and I will tell you their entire philosophy of life. Show me the person they sleep with and I will tell you their valuation of themselves.

  Ayn Rand

  Philosophy, Sleep, Attractive

• I consider promiscuity immoral. Not because sex is evil, but because sex is too good and too important.

  Ayn Rand

  Wisdom, Sex, Philosophy

  Ayn Rand (1988). “The Ayn Rand Lexicon: Objectivism from A to Z”, p.460, Penguin

• Just as man's physical existence was liberated when he grasped that 'nature, to be commanded, must be obeyed', so his consciousness will be liberated when grasps that nature, to be apprehended, must be obeyed - that the rules of cognition must be derived from the nature of existence and the nature, the identity, of his cognitive faculty.

  Ayn Rand

  Philosophy, Men, Identity

  Ayn Rand (1988). “The Ayn Rand Lexicon: Objectivism from A to Z”, p.106, Penguin

• 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

• It is the metaphysically given that must be accepted: it cannot be changed. It is the man-made that must never be accepted uncritically: it must be judged, then accepted or rejected and changed when necessary.

  Ayn Rand

  Philosophy, Acceptance, Men

  Ayn Rand (1988). “The Ayn Rand Lexicon: Objectivism from A to Z”, p.302, Penguin

• Get the hell out of my way!

  Ayn Rand

  Strength, Courage, Philosophy

  Ayn Rand (2011). “Ayn Rand Novel Collection”, p.2340, Penguin

• There has never been a philosophy, a theory or a doctrine, that attacked (or 'limited') reason, which did not preach submission to the power of some authority.

  Ayn Rand

  Philosophy, Religion, Doctrine

  Ayn Rand (1999). “The Return of the Primitive: The Anti-Industrial Revolution”, p.76, Penguin

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