Ayn Rand Liberty Quotations

I say that man is entitled to his own happiness and that he must achieve it himself. But that he cannot demand that others give up their lives to make him happy.

Man holds these rights [life, liberty and property], not from the Collective nor for the Collective, but against the Collective - as a barrier which the Collective cannot cross... these rights are man's protection against all other men.

Capitalism is our only moral system. All other systems take advantage of man's rights and liberties.

Every coercive monopoly was created by government intervention into the economy: by special privileges, such as franchises or subsidies, which closed the entry of competitors into a given field, by legislative action.

Creation comes before distribution - or there will be nothing to distribute. The need of the creator comes before the need of any possible beneficiary. Yet we are taught to admire the second-hander who dispenses gifts he has not produced above the man who made the gifts possible. We praise an act of charity. We shrug at an act of achievement.

I hold that such a question can never arise except in a society of cannibals.

The degree of a country's freedom is the degree of its prosperity.

The uncontested absurdities of today are the accepted slogans of tomorrow.

To deal with men by force is as impractical as to deal with nature by persuasion.

In any compromise between food and poison, it is only death that can win. In any compromise between good and evil, it is only evil that can profit.

Whoever claims the right to redistribute the wealth produced by others is claiming the right to treat human beings as chattel.

Capitalism demands the best of every man - his rationality - and rewards him accordingly. It leaves every man free to choose the work he likes, to specialize in it, to trade his product for the products of others, and to go as far on the road of achievement as his ability and ambition will carry him.

Men have been taught that it is a virtue to agree with others. But the creator is the man who disagrees. Men have been taught that it is a virtue to swim with the current. But the creator is the man who goes against the current. Men have been taught that it is a virtue to stand together. But the creator is the man who stands alone.

It is true that the welfare-statists are not socialists, that they never advocated or intended the socialization of private property, that they want to 'preserve' private property-with government control of its use and disposal. But that is the fundamental characteristic of fascism.

The difference between a welfare state and a totalitarian state is a matter of time.

The government was set to protect man from criminals, and the Constitution was written to protect man from the government.

I am interested in politics so that one day I will not have to be interested in politics.

The Argument from Intimidation is a confession of intellectual impotence.

We can evade reality, but we cannot evade the consequences of evading reality

The man who speaks to you of sacrifice, speaks of slaves and masters. And intends to be the master.

What is the basic, the essential, the crucial principle that differentiates freedom from slavery? It is the principle of voluntary action versus physical coercion or compulsion.

The end does not justify the means. No one's rights can be secured by the violation of the rights of others.

The man who produces while others dispose of his product is a slave.

A society that robs an individual of the product of his effort ... is not strictly speaking a society, but a mob held together by institutionalized gang violence.

All depressions are caused by government interference and the cure is always offered to take more of the poison that caused the disaster. Depressions are not the result of a free economy.

It is a free market that makes monopolies impossible.

The right to vote is a consequence, not a primary cause, of a free social system - and its value depends on the constitutional structure implementing and strictly delimiting the voters' power; unlimited majority rule is an instance of the principle of tyranny.

The [U.S.] Constitution is a limitation on the government, not on private individuals ... it does not prescribe the conduct of private individuals, only the conduct of the government ... it is not a charter for government power, but a charter of the citizen's protection against the government.

In a capitalist society, all human relationships are voluntary. Men are free to cooperate or not, to deal with one another or not, as their own individual judgments, convictions and interests dictate.

We are now moving towards complete collectivism or socialism, a system under which everybody is enslaved to everybody.

Socialism is the doctrine that man has no right to exist for his own sake, that his life and his work do not belong to him, but belong to society, that the only justification of his existence is his service to society, and that society may dispose of him in any way it pleases for the sake of whatever it deems to be its own tribal, collective good.

Everyone has the right to make his own decisions, but none has the right to force his decision on others.