214 quotes found
“No matter what corruption hes taught about the virtue of selflessness, sex is the most profoundly selfish of all acts, an act which he cannot perform for any motive but his own enjoymentjust try to...”
“The man who despises himself tries to gain self-esteem from sexual adventures which cant be done, because sex is not the cause, but an effect and an expression of a mans sense of his own value.”
“What glory can there be in the conquest of a mindless body?”
“Sex is the physical expression of a tribute to personal values.”
“She knew the general doctrine on sex, held by people in one form or another, the doctrine that sex was an ugly weakness of mans lower nature, to be condoned regretfully. She experienced an emotion ...”
“Isnt it wonderful that our bodies can give us so much pleasure? he said to her once, quite simply. They were happy and radiantly innocent. They were both incapable of the conception that joy is sin.”
“The statue was of a young man with a tall, gaunt body and an angular face. He held his head as if he faced a challenge and found joy in his capacity to meet it.”
“It was the smile of a man who is able to see, to know and to create the glory of existence. It was the mocking, challenging smile of a brilliant intelligence.”
“Dagny leaned back in her chair. The short sentence was a shock. It was not merely relief: it was the sudden realization that nothing else was necessary to guarantee that it would be done; she neede...”
“Whats wealth but the means of expanding ones life? Theres two ways one can do it: either by producing more or by producing it faster.”
“Yes, this is an age of moral crisis. Yes, you are bearing punishment for your evil. But it is not man who is now on trial and it is not human nature that will take the blame. It is your moral code ...”
“Do not cry that it is our duty to serve you. We do not recognize such duty. Do not cry that you need us. We do not consider need a claim. Do not cry that you own us. You dont.”
“While a creator does and must worship Man (which means his own highest potentiality; which is his natural self-reverence), he must not make the mistake of thinking that this means the necessity to ...”
“The things you were talking about. The lights and the flowers. Do they expect those things to make them romantic, not the other way around?Darling, what do you mean?There wasnt a person there who e...”
“If, to him, love was a celebration of ones self and of existencethen, to the self-haters and life-haters, the pursuit of destruction was the only form and equivalent of love.”
“Incredulity and indifference were her only reaction: incredulity, because she could not conceive of what would bring human beings to such a state indifference, because she could not regard those wh...”
“Thoughthe told himself quietlyis a weapon one uses in order to act. No action was possible. Thought is the tool by which one makes a choice. No choice was left to him. Thought sets ones purpose and...”
“You have sacrificed justice to mercy. You have sacrificed independence to unity. You have sacrificed reason to faith. You have sacrificed wealth to need. You have sacrificed self-esteem to self-den...”
“They said you were hard and cold and unfeeling.But its true...I am, in the sense they meanonly have they ever told you in just what sense they mean it?""What did they mean about you?Whenever anyone...”
“Whenever anyone accuses some person of being unfeeling, he means that that person is just. He means that that person has no causeless emotions and will not grant him a feeling which he does not des...”
