Character Quotes by Ayn Rand

“Virtue is the giving of undeserved.”

— Ayn Rand

A rational process is a moral process.

— Ayn Rand

Man's character is the product of his premises.

— Ayn Rand

Money is the barometer of a society's virtue.

— Ayn Rand

“Money is the barometer of society's virtue.”

— Ayn Rand

The creed of sacrifice is a morality for the immoral.

— Ayn Rand

“moral absolute one does not”

— Ayn Rand

Art is the indispensable medium for the communication of a moral ideal.

— Ayn Rand

Errors of knowledge are not breaches of morality; no proper moral code can demand infallibility or omniscience.

— Ayn Rand

“The man who does not value himself, cannot value anything or anyone." — Ayn Rand (The Virtue of Selfishness)”

— Ayn Rand

If any civilization is to survive, it is the morality of altruism that men have to reject.

— Ayn Rand

To know one's own desires, their meaning and their costs requires the highest human virtue: rationality.

— Ayn Rand

The virtue involved in helping those one loves is not 'selflessness' or 'sacrifice,' but integrity.

— Ayn Rand

A viler evil than to murder a man, is to sell him suicide as an act of virtue.

— Ayn Rand

Life is the reward of virtue. And happiness is the goal and reward of life.

— Ayn Rand

You love people, not for what you do for them or what they do for you. You love them for their values;…

— Ayn Rand

When a man declares: "There are no blacks and whites [in morality]" he is making a psychological confession, and what he means…

— Ayn Rand

“Just as religion has preempted the field of ethics, turning morality against man, so it has usurped the highest moral concepts of…

— Ayn Rand

But what man does out of despair, is not necessarily a key to his character. I have always thought that the real…

— Ayn Rand

It is fairly easy to grasp abstract moral principles; it can be very difficult to apply them to a given situation, particularly…

— Ayn Rand

The moral cannibalism of all hedonist and altruist doctrines lies in the premise that the happiness of one man necessitates the injury…

— Ayn Rand

The moral is the chosen, not the forced; the understood, not the obeyed. The moral is the rational, and reason accepts no…

— Ayn Rand

Humor is not an unconditional virtue; its moral character depends on its object. To laugh at the contemptible, is a virtue; to…

— Ayn Rand

Namely, if I am challenging the base of all these institutions, I'm challenging the moral code of altruism. The precept that man's…

— Ayn Rand

Love should be treated like a business deal, but every business deal has its own terms and its own currency. And in…

— Ayn Rand

I write - and read - for the sake of the story... My basic test for any story is: 'Would I want…

— Ayn Rand

There's nothing of any importance in life - except how well you do your work. Nothing. Only that. Whatever else you are,…

— Ayn Rand

“Dagny, there’s nothing of any importance in life—except how well you do your work. Nothing. Only that. Whatever else you are, will…

— Ayn Rand

The social system based on and consonant with the altruist morality-with the code of self-sacrifice- is socialism, in all or any of…

— Ayn Rand

Man has been called a rational being, but rationality is a matter of choice... Man has to be a man-by choice; he…

— Ayn Rand

But neither life nor happiness can be achieved by the pursuit of irrational whims. Just as man is free to attempt to…

— Ayn Rand

“You will live in a world of responsible beings, who will be as consistent and reliable as facts; the guarantee of their…

— Ayn Rand

“To live, man must hold three things as the supreme and ruling values of his life: Reason - Purpose - Self-esteem. Reason,…

— Ayn Rand

There must be only three supreme values which govern a person's life: Reason, Purpose, and Self-esteem. Reason, as his only tool of…

— Ayn Rand

“Sweep aside those parasites of subsidized classrooms, who live on the profits of the mind of others and proclaim that man needs…

— Ayn Rand

It's easy to run to others. It's so hard to stand on one's own record. You can fake virtue for an audience.…

— Ayn Rand

“Productiveness is your acceptance of morality, your recognition of the fact that you choose to live--that productive work is the process by…

— Ayn Rand

“Tell me what a person finds sexually attractive and I will tell you their entire philosophy of life. Show me the person…

— Ayn Rand

“Justice is the recognition of the fact that you cannot fake the character of men as you cannot fake the character of…

— Ayn Rand

There can be no such thing, in law or in morality, as actions forbidden to an individual, but permitted to a mob

— Ayn Rand