Intelligence? It is such a rare, precarious spark that flashes for a moment somewhere among men, and vanishes. One cannot tell its nature, or its future . . . or its death. . . .”

He was no worse than anybody, only smarter. Some get caught at it and some don’t—that’s the only difference. . . .

You keep pushing out of your mind the thoughts which you believe to be evil. They do it, because they want to avoid effort.

“Times change, and people change with the times—the wise ones do. Wisdom lies in knowing when to remember and when to forget. Consistency is not a habit of mind which it is wise to practice or to expect of the human race.”

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.

“I swear—by my life and my love of it—that I will never live for the sake of another man, nor ask another man to live for mine.”

Whenever you think that you are facing a contradiction, check your premises. You will find that one of them is wrong.”

Any refusal to recognize reality, for any reason whatever, has disastrous consequences. There are no evil thoughts except one: the refusal to think. Don’t ignore your own desires, Mr. Rearden. Don’t sacrifice them. Examine their cause.

“Free scientific inquiry? The first adjective is redundant.”