8 Quotes Everybody Would Love If They Weren't From Ayn Rand
It's fairly uncontroversial to say Ayn Rand is designated among most people to be "out of bounds." She was just some crazy Russian lady who escaped from the Soviet Union and so she had a visceral reaction and went completely the other way. Instead of the "communist" Soviet model of "helping each other" and "eliminating inequality," she was a social Darwinist who thought everybody was just out to get everybody else and this is a good thing. Not to mention that she was a filthy hypocrite for taking social security money.
This is the ridiculous caricature that is more or less accepted by society at large. I'm not an Objectivist, and I have my own reservations about Rand but she is nonetheless treated despicably by most people. Objectivism, the philosophy that she created, is complex, and has its own theories about pretty much every level of philosophy, ethics, and politics, but if you can take just half a red pill and peak behind the curtain to see what Rand was really all about, you can start to see that her work, like Nietszche, is misinterpreted as a kind of evil cutthroat selfishness and is actually far more useful (and accurate) when you think about it as self help.
Sometimes self help isn't all about loving yourself, although that is a good starting point, it's about actionable advice to rid yourself of toxic habits, people, and thoughts. Ayn Rand's ethics overlap quite a bit in theory with people who constantly preach about the importance of self-care, putting your self first, having good self esteem, good mental health, and achieving your own goals before getting caught up in other people's problems. If people didn't have any misconceptions about or willfully ignore Ayn Rand, these quotes would be embraced as constructive advice at the least and inspirational at the most.
"To say "I love you" one must know first how to say the "I"" - The Fountainhead
“Have you felt it too? Have you seen how your best friends love everything about you- except the things that count? And your most important is nothing to them; nothing, not even a sound they can recognize.” - The Fountainhead
“I stand here on the summit of the mountain. I lift my head and I spread my arms. This, my body and spirit, this is the end of the quest. I wished to know the meaning of all things. I am the meaning. I wished to find a warrant for being. I need no warrant for being, and no word of sanction upon my being. I am the warrant and the sanction. Neither am I the means to any end others may wish to accomplish. I am not a tool for their use. I am not a servant of their needs. I am not a sacrifice on their alters.” - Anthem
“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.” - Anthem
“Do you mean to tell me that you're thinking seriously of building that way, when and if you are an architect?”
“Yes.”
“My dear fellow, who will let you?”
“That’s not the point. The point is, who will stop me?” - Howard Roark, The Fountainhead“I don't wish to be the symbol of anything. I'm only myself.” - The Fountainhead
“If one's actions are honest, one does not need the predated confidence of others.” - Atlas Shrugged
“What greater wealth is there than to own your life and to spend it on growing? Every living thing must grow. It can't stand still. It must grow or perish.” - Atlas Shrugged