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Favorite Short Quote

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Prometheus98876

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What is your favorite short (lets say about up too a few sentences long) from Miss Rands fiction?

Myself, I would have to go with:

"Since life requires a specific course of action, any other course will destroy it. A being who does not hold his own life as the motive and goal of his actions, is acting on the motive and standard of death. Such a being is a metaphysical monstrosity, struggling to oppose, negate, and contradict the fact of his own existence, running blindly amuck on a trail of destruction, capable of nothing but pain."

closely followed by:

"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."

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"I wished to know the meaning of 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."

-Anthem

In fact, this has become my all-time favorite quote, right behind:

"1.21 GIGAWATTS!!!"

-Back to the Future

Edited by Moose
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"I wished to know the meaning of 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."

-Anthem

In fact, this has become my all-time favorite quote, right behind:

"1.21 GIGAWATTS!!!"

-Back to the Future

I had completely forgotten about that one. It is a very good quote. Anthem, although extremely short is a pretty good statement of the importance and nature of individualism. It sums one of key aspects of Objectivism up quite well. I will be putting this back in my top ten list of quotes.

It has been a while since I read Anthem, and I had to read it faster than i would have liked. I must read it again at some stage.

Im not too sure that the last one is in Miss Rands fiction.... ;)

Edited by Prometheus98876
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Well yeah, but it's still my all-time favorite.

Yeah, Ok, if you insist ;) . It is just slightly off topic strictly speaking, but oh well...I think that it is indeed one of the more memorable quotes from BTtF. I can always imagine exactly how it was said even after not having seen that movie for so long.
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"I am. I think. I will." from Anthem. I'm thinking about getting it tattooed on my back.

Another Anthem quote... it might be a more popular book that I think...hmm

Lol..imagine trying to put my favorite quote on ones back... not exactly what you would call practical..

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"Pity for the guilty is treason to the innocent."

Quoted from Kahlan in the Sword of Truth series but someone mentioned in another post that it is either a paraphrase or direct quote from Miss Rand.

It's my favourite as I see so much of it in my job and this reminds me that I'm not alone in observing this travesty of 'justice.

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"Pity for the guilty is treason to the innocent."

Quoted from Kahlan in the Sword of Truth series but someone mentioned in another post that it is either a paraphrase or direct quote from Miss Rand.

It's my favourite as I see so much of it in my job and this reminds me that I'm not alone in observing this travesty of 'justice.

I beleive Zedd has quoted this on more than one occasion as well.

It is also pretty much exactly what I recall reading in one of Miss Rands works, I cannot recall which one.

I can definetely see why this quote would be of such great importance too you, given you are a prison guard. I have alot of respect for those whom value the importance of true justice.

One must always judge how ones actions impact on ones life and what actions are neccessary to punish those whom infringe on ones rights, and there are always those out there whom would wish to infringe on one rights. If you refuse to attempt to make someone whom has infringed on your rights suffer what you consider to be the approriate consequences then you are in effect saying "ok, you are infringing on my rights, but I do not wish to protect them". If you are not willing to protect them, how can you hope to discourage people from violating your rights?

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"But I don't think of you."

--Howard Roark to Ellsworth Toohey

I agree with you on this one Christopher. That was my favorite line from the book. I think it sums up so much about Objectivism. Plus I literally waited 12 years to use the line in an argument with a second hander. He was a loser that lived off his parents wealth and complained about the rich etc on his relatively popular blog. One day he was trying yet another failed time to bait me into an argument and he asked me what I thought of him and I laid the line on him. It was perfect.

Though it is a close victory of "I swear by my life..." from AS.

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I agree with you on this one Christopher. That was my favorite line from the book. I think it sums up so much about Objectivism. Plus I literally waited 12 years to use the line in an argument with a second hander. He was a loser that lived off his parents wealth and complained about the rich etc on his relatively popular blog. One day he was trying yet another failed time to bait me into an argument and he asked me what I thought of him and  I laid the line on him. It was perfect.

Though it is a close victory of "I swear by my life..." from AS.

Indeed...I have used similar lines in similar situations myself and they usually get what the response I would expect. Its nice too see someone whom has the same second favorite quote.

Edited by Prometheus98876
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I agree with you on this one Christopher.

Smart man. :dough:

Plus I literally waited 12 years to use the line in an argument...

:dough: Good story!

Though it is a close victory of "I swear by my life..." from AS.

Well...Atlas Shrugged is of course the more comprehensive novel regarding Objectivism. Likewise, Galt's oath is more comprehensive and explicit than Roark's line. Some of my personal attraction to The Fountainhead & Roark is emotional/sentimental: it's the first Rand novel I read, therefore it hit me the strongest. Roark still feels like more of my personal hero than any other Rand character, even though I love & greatly value those others also.

So, how about another personal favorite "Roark-ism"?!

"I don't wish to be a symbol of anything. I'm only myself."

--Howard Roark to Gail Wynand

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Smart man.  :) 

:)  Good story!

Well...Atlas Shrugged is of course the more comprehensive novel regarding Objectivism.  Likewise, Galt's oath is more comprehensive and explicit than Roark's line.  Some of my personal attraction to The Fountainhead & Roark is emotional/sentimental:  it's the first Rand novel I read, therefore it hit me the strongest.  Roark still feels like more of my personal hero than any other Rand character, even though I love & greatly value those others also.

So, how about another personal favorite "Roark-ism"?!

"I don't wish to be a symbol of anything. I'm only myself."

--Howard Roark to Gail Wynand

I have yet to read the Fountainhead (I am starting in in three days), but I think that one of the reasons that so many people find Roark easier to relate too is that from what I have been able to discover, he is less of an 'abstractly perfect' man. that perhaps he is a more realistic character to aspire too. thats just my theory at this stage.

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I have yet to read the Fountainhead (I am starting in in three days), but I think that one of the reasons that so many people find Roark easier to relate too is that from what I have been able to discover, he is less of an 'abstractly perfect' man.  that perhaps he is a more realistic character to aspire too.  thats just my theory at this stage.

I don't really agree. I think they can relate to (or at least admire) Roark so much because he is the ideal man of The Fountainhead, and in that novel there's really only one. He is the first hero many Objectivists encounter in literature. Also, unlike the heroes in Atlas, we follow Roark through his entire journey to greatness, which is very inspiring. There are so many heroes in Atlas that none stand out quite the way Roark does.

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"But I don't think of you."

--Howard Roark to Ellsworth Toohey

I agree with you on this one Christopher. That was my favorite line from the book. I think it sums up so much about Objectivism. Plus I literally waited 12 years to use the line in an argument with a second hander. He was a loser that lived off his parents wealth and complained about the rich etc on his relatively popular blog. One day he was trying yet another failed time to bait me into an argument and he asked me what I thought of him and I laid the line on him. It was perfect.

I agree that this quote is quite memorable.

But I felt that it exposed a divergence of belief between Howard Roark and Ayn Rand herself:

1. To Howard Roark, Ellsworth M. Toohey is insignificant.

2. To Ayn Rand, Ellsworth M. Toohey is quite significant -- she named part 2 of her book "The Fountainhead" after him.

Similarly, scottkursk told his loser-acquaintance that he is insignificant. Yet Scott felt that he was significant enough to plot to use this quote against him. And Scott remembers the story and repeats it here. How do you reconcile this contradiction, Scott?

Edited by jrs
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Similarly, scottkursk told his loser-acquaintance that he is insignificant.  Yet Scott felt that he was significant enough to plot to use this quote against him.  And Scott remembers the story and repeats it here.  How do you reconcile this contradiction, Scott?

Ouch. Yeah, it's definitely hard to be as cool as Roark in real life.

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I agree that this quote is quite memorable.

But I felt that it exposed a divergence of belief between Howard Roark and Ayn Rand herself:

1. To Howard Roark, Ellsworth M. Toohey is insignificant.

2. To Ayn Rand, Ellsworth M. Toohey is quite significant -- she named part 2 of her book "The Fountainhead" after him.

Similarly, scottkursk told his loser-acquaintance that he is insignificant.  Yet Scott felt that he was significant enough to plot to use this quote against him.  And Scott remembers the story and repeats it here.  How do you reconcile this contradiction, Scott?

As for why Rand named part 2 of the Fountainhead after Toohey, it was because it was how Roark responds to Toohey. The part of the book was as much an allegorical tale of how to deal with second handers. Hence the title.

As for me "plotting" to use it against him, I didn't. It was just one of a series of quips I have that were extremely funny and particularly poinant at the time. I mentioned the incident here to show a)levity & B)a real life application of my favorite quote. Another example was a play on the words "aural sex" I made and I literally waited five or six years until I happened to be around a friend that was a DJ and one of his fans said something like "he was making love to his ears with music" and I retorted "whoa, so you saying he performed aural sex on you."

I wouldn't say that was exactly a significant moment in my life but I had that joke saved up for a very long time to spring it at the right moment. If you'd like to hear a great joke about traunches of collateralized mortgage obligations, I've got one I've been saving since 95.

[Edited to disable emoticon. sNerd]

Edited by softwareNerd
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My all time favorite quote is the one I use as my signature but these three are also up there. The first two I believe are from the Fountainhead and the last one is from Atlas Shrugged.

I grew up surrounded by a lot of Peter Keatings so when I read quote #1 in the book it made me realize what it was I had always detested in people from my class even though they were also smart. Quote #2 is great advice regarding love and #3 handles the fear of death question pretty good.

1)A creative man is motivated by the desire to achieve, not by the desire to beat others.

2)To say "I love you" one must first be able to say the "I."

3)Achieving life is not the equivalent of avoiding death.

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  • 2 months later...
  • 1 year later...

Heres a list I have on the wall in my room :]:

The question isn't who is going to let me; it's who is going to stop me.

The purpose of morality is to teach you, not to suffer and die, but to enjoy yourself and live.

Throughout the centuries there were men who took first steps, down new roads, armed with nothing but their own vision.

To say "I love you" one must first be able to say the "I."

Wealth is the product of man's capacity to think.

What is a demanding pleasure that demands the use of ones mind! Not in the sense of problem solving, but in the sense of exercising discrimination, judgment, awareness.

I guard my treasures: my thought, my will, my freedom. And the greatest of these is freedom.

I do not recognize anyone's right to one minute of my life

The secrets of this earth are not for all men to see, but only for those who will seek them

To sell your soul is the easiest thing in the world. That’s what everybody does every hour of his life. If I asked you to keep your soul - would you understand why that is much harder?"

And that’s the sin that can’t be forgiven - that I hadn’t done what I wanted. It feels so dirty and pointless and monstrous, as one feels about insanity, because there’s no sense to to it, no dignity, nothing but pain.

I can accept anything, except what seems to be the easiest for most people: the halfway, the almost, the in-between.

Great spirits have always found violent opposition from mediocre minds. The latter cannot understand it when a man does not thoughtlessly submit to hereditary prejudices but honestly and courageously uses his intelligence. -- Albert Einstein

There are all these ideals about what is perfect and what is beautiful and what is smart, but the most appealing thing is, that which is me is nobody else."

-Jennifer Lopez

"If a man does not keep pace with his companions,

perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer.

Let him step to the music he hears,

however measured or far away."

-Henry David Thoreau

"Don't ask yourself what the world needs; ask yourself what makes you come alive. And then go and do that. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive."

- Harold Whitman

When you discard arrogance, complexity, and a few other things that get in the way, sooner or later you will discover that simple, childlike, and mysterious secret known to those of the Uncarved Block: Life is Fun."

- Benjamin Hoff, The Tao of Pooh

"And what good is it? To see something wondrous, and have no idea what it is you saw?"

-A traveler, Earthfall by Orson Scott Card

"Changing the world is good for those who want their names in books. But being happy, that is for those who write their names in the lives of others, and hold the hearts of others as the treasure most dear."

- Children of the Mind, by Orson Scott Card

"Don't be reckless with other people's hearts. Don't put up with people who are reckless with yours. Don't waste your time on jealousy. Sometimes you're ahead, sometimes you're behind. The race is long and, in the end, it's only with yourself."

- Mary Schmich

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