--- title: "7 Defense Quotes By Ayn Rand" description: "7 Defense quotes by Ayn Rand. Plus more from Ayn Rand and more Defense sayings from other authors." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/839/ayn-rand-59_achieve_the-necessary-consequence-of-man-s-right_997289.jpg" --- > [The necessary consequence of man's right to life is his right to self-defense. In a civilized society, force may be used only…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ayn-rand/the-necessary-consequence-of-man-s-right-to-life-is-his-right-to-self/) [Ayn Rand](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ayn-rand/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/839/ayn-rand-59_achieve_the-necessary-consequence-of-man-s-right_997289.jpg) > [The only proper purpose of a government is to protect man's rights, which means: to protect him from physical violence. A proper…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ayn-rand/the-only-proper-purpose-of-a-government-is-to-protect-man-s-rights-2/) [Ayn Rand](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ayn-rand/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/29a/ayn-rand-59_acting_the-only-proper-purpose-of-a-government_1192354.jpg) > [Ask yourself why totalitarian dictatorships find it necessary to pour money and effort into propaganda for their own helpless, chained, gagged slaves,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ayn-rand/ask-yourself-why-totalitarian-dictatorships-find-it-necessary-to-pour/) [Ayn Rand](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ayn-rand/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/564/ayn-rand-59_answers_ask-yourself-why-totalitarian-dictatorsh_1684215.jpg) > [You have chosen to risk your lives for the defense of this country. I will not insult you by saying that you…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ayn-rand/you-have-chosen-to-risk-your-lives-for-the-defense-of-this-country-i/) [Ayn Rand](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ayn-rand/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/154/ayn-rand-59_chosen_you-have-chosen-to-risk-your-lives-for-t_2092642.jpg) > [“You have chosen to risk your lives for the defense of this country. I will not insult you by saying that you…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ayn-rand/you-have-chosen-to-risk-your-lives-for-the-defense-of-this-country-i-2/) [Ayn Rand](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ayn-rand/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/8de/ayn-rand-59_defense_you-have-chosen-to-risk-your-lives-for-t_2346231.jpg) > [Definitions are the guardians of rationality, the first line of defense against the chaos of mental disintegration.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ayn-rand/definitions-are-the-guardians-of-rationality-the-first-line-of/) [Ayn Rand](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ayn-rand/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/9ad/ayn-rand-59_chaos_definitions-are-the-guardians-of-rationa_2403236.jpg) > [No man may initiate the use of physical force against others. No man-or group or society or government-has the right to assume…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ayn-rand/no-man-may-initiate-the-use-of-physical-force-against-others-no-man/) [Ayn Rand](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ayn-rand/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/24e/ayn-rand-59_assuming_no-man-may-initiate-the-use-of-physical_2775439.jpg) ## Other authors on Defense ## More by Ayn Rand > [There are no white lies, there is only the blackest of destruction, and a white lie is the blackest of all.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ayn-rand/there-are-no-white-lies-there-is-only-the-blackest-of-destruction-and/) [Ayn Rand](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ayn-rand/) > [She watched the prairies the rivers, the towns slipping past at an untouchable distance below - and she noted that the sense of detachment…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ayn-rand/she-watched-the-prairies-the-rivers-the-towns-slipping-past-at-an/) [Ayn Rand](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ayn-rand/) > [“This was reality, she thought, this sense of clear outlines, of purpose, of lightness, of hope.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ayn-rand/this-was-reality-she-thought-this-sense-of-clear-outlines-of-purpose/) [Ayn Rand](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ayn-rand/) > [A “collective” mind does not exist. It is merely the sum of endless numbers of individual minds. If we have an endless number of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ayn-rand/a-collective-mind-does-not-exist-it-is-merely-the-sum-of-endless/) [Ayn Rand](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ayn-rand/) > [Lobbying' is the activity of attempting to influence legislation by privately influencing the legislators. It is the result and creation of a mixed economy-of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ayn-rand/lobbying-is-the-activity-of-attempting-to-influence-legislation-by/) [Ayn Rand](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ayn-rand/) > [“She moved her hand and let it rest against his. He did not withdraw his fingers and he did not pretend indifference. She bent…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ayn-rand/she-moved-her-hand-and-let-it-rest-against-his-he-did-not-withdraw/) [Ayn Rand](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ayn-rand/) > [This miracle of me is mine to own and keep, and mine to guard, and mine to use, and mine to kneel before.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ayn-rand/this-miracle-of-me-is-mine-to-own-and-keep-and-mine-to-guard-and-mine/) [Ayn Rand](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ayn-rand/) > [“There was still one response, the greatest, that she had missed. She thought: To find a feeling that would hold, as their sum, as…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ayn-rand/there-was-still-one-response-the-greatest-that-she-had-missed-she/) [Ayn Rand](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ayn-rand/) > [Inflation is not caused by the actions of private citizens, but by the government: by an artificial expansion of the money supply required to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ayn-rand/inflation-is-not-caused-by-the-actions-of-private-citizens-but-by-the/) [Ayn Rand](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ayn-rand/) > [“We are fornicating in the sight of six billion people.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ayn-rand/we-are-fornicating-in-the-sight-of-six-billion-people/) [Ayn Rand](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ayn-rand/) > [“She was fifteen when it occurred to her for the first time that women did not run railroads and that people might object. To…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ayn-rand/she-was-fifteen-when-it-occurred-to-her-for-the-first-time-that-women/) [Ayn Rand](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ayn-rand/) > [Fransisco, you're some kind of very high nobility, aren't you?" He answered, "Not yet. The reason my family has lasted for such a long…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ayn-rand/fransisco-you-re-some-kind-of-very-high-nobility-aren-t-you-he/) [Ayn Rand](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ayn-rand/) > [Have you felt it too? Have you seen how your best friends love everything about you- except the things that count? And your most…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ayn-rand/have-you-felt-it-too-have-you-seen-how-your-best-friends-love/) [Ayn Rand](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ayn-rand/) > [Every coercive monopoly was created by government intervention into the economy: by special privileges, such as franchises or subsidies, which closed the entry of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ayn-rand/every-coercive-monopoly-was-created-by-government-intervention-into/) [Ayn Rand](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ayn-rand/) > [We are all brothers under the skin - and I, for one, would be willing to skin humanity to prove it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ayn-rand/we-are-all-brothers-under-the-skin-and-i-for-one-would-be-willing-to/) [Ayn Rand](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ayn-rand/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "ItemList", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/defense/ayn-rand/#itemlist", "name": "7 Defense Quotes By Ayn Rand", "numberOfItems": 7, "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "The necessary consequence of man's right to life is his right to self-defense. 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The answer is that even the humblest peasant or the lowest savage would rise in blind rebellion, were he to realize that he is being immolated, not to some incomprehensible noble purpose, but to plain, naked human evil.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Ayn Rand" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ayn-rand/ask-yourself-why-totalitarian-dictatorships-find-it-necessary-to-pour/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/564/ayn-rand-59_answers_ask-yourself-why-totalitarian-dictatorsh_1684215.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/564/ayn-rand-59_answers_ask-yourself-why-totalitarian-dictatorsh_1684215.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/564/ayn-rand-59_answers_ask-yourself-why-totalitarian-dictatorsh_1684215.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Ask yourself why totalitarian dictatorships find it necessary to pour money and effort into propaganda for…” — Ayn Rand", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "You have chosen to risk your lives for the defense of this country. I will not insult you by saying that you are dedicated to selfless service--it is not a virtue in my morality. In my morality, the defense of one's country means that a man is personally unwilling to live as the conquered slave of any enemy, foreign or domestic. This is an enormous virtue.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Ayn Rand" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ayn-rand/you-have-chosen-to-risk-your-lives-for-the-defense-of-this-country-i/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/154/ayn-rand-59_chosen_you-have-chosen-to-risk-your-lives-for-t_2092642.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/154/ayn-rand-59_chosen_you-have-chosen-to-risk-your-lives-for-t_2092642.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/154/ayn-rand-59_chosen_you-have-chosen-to-risk-your-lives-for-t_2092642.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“You have chosen to risk your lives for the defense of this country. 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No man-or group or society or government-has the right to assume the role of a criminal and initiate the use of physical compulsion against any man. Men have the right to use physical force only in retaliation and only against those who initiate its use. 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