“For years, I had a top secret clearance and never left Russia. Just once did I go to Bulgaria with my wife for a holiday at the Golden Sands resort, but I could not mention my real name. I was allo...”

“I tried a dozen different modifications that were rejected. But they all served as a path to the final design.”

“The fact that people die because of an AK-47 is not because of the designer, but because of politics.”

“Life is composed of different inventions. I have continued to work at different things and rebuilt my home all by myself. I did it for the sake of satisfaction at doing something.”

“Nothing to be proud of, nothing to regret.”

“The United States is proud to be the first country to recognize the existence of a Jewish State - just 11 minutes after Israel's independence was declared.”

“Ch'in Shih-huang is the first emperor of China. He united seven separate kingdoms into a single nation. He built the Great Wall and was buried with the terra-cotta soldiers. The Chinese have mixed ...”

“Dagny," he said, looking at the city as it moved past their taxi window, "think of the first man who thought of making a steel girder. He knew what he saw, what he thought and what he wanted. He di...”

“Our civilization is not Christian. It does not come from the skies. It is not a result of "inspiration." It is the child of invention, of discovery, of applied knowledge -- that is to say, of scien...”

“The day science begins to study non-physical phenomena, it will make more progress in one decade than in all the previous centuries of its existence.”

“I used to be a cool chick but I'm not anymore.”

“In strife who inquires whether stratagem or courage was used?”

“I used to stutter really badly. Everybody thinks it's funny. And it's not funny. It's not.”