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Economics Quotes by Ayn Rand

52 Economics quotes by Ayn Rand

All Economics quotes Ayn Rand’s page

Ayn Rand argues that government meddling creates monopolies and stifles freedom. She praises capitalism as a system built on individual rights and a hopeful future. She also warns that mixed economies invite parasitism and corruption. In her view, refusing to judge frees one from responsibility.

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A 'mixed economy' is a society in the process of committing suicide.

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Individual rights are not subject to a public vote; a majority has no right to vote away the rights of a minority.

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

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Capitalism is based on individual rights - not on the sacrifice of the individual to the 'public good' of the collective.

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Capitalism is not the system of the past; it is the system of the future -- if mankind is to have a…

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If parasitism, favoritism, corruption, and greed for the unearned did not exist, a mixed economy would bring them into existence.

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

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

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“A free economy cannot exist without competition. Therefore, men must be forced to compete. Therefore, we must control men in order to…

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The more propaganda . . . conservatives spread for capitalist economics while at the same time preaching collectivism morally and philosophically ,…

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A society that robs an individual of the product of his effort ... is not strictly speaking a society, but a mob…

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There are only two means by which men can deal with one another: guns or logic. Force or persuasion. Those who know…

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America's abundance was not created by public sacrifices to the common good, but by the productive genius of free men who pursued…

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Every coercive monopoly was created by government intervention into the economy: by special privileges, such as franchises or subsidies, which closed the…

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Capitalism has been called a system of greed—yet it is the system that raised the standard of living of its poorest citizens…

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It is the basic, metaphysical fact of man's nature -- the connection between his survival and his use of reason -- that…

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Economic power is exercised by means of a positive, by offering men a reward, an incentive, a payment, a value; political power…

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Capitalism demands the best of every man - his rationality - and rewards him accordingly. It leaves every man free to choose…

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America's abundance was created not by public sacrifices to the common good, but by the productive genius of free men who pursued…

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No individual or private group or private organization has the legal power to initiate the use of physical force against other individuals…

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While, politically, a mixed economy preserves the semblance of an organized society with a semblance of law and order, economically it is…

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As a cultural-intellectual power and a moral ideal, collectivism died in World War II. If we are still rolling in its direction,…

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Government control of the economy, no matter in whose behalf, has been the source of all the evils in our industrial society…

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“The moral justification of capitalism is man’s right to exist for his own sake, neither sacrificing himself to others nor sacrificing others…

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“It is often asked: Why was capitalism destroyed in spite of its incomparably beneficent record? The answer lies in the fact that…

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The difference between [socialism and fascism] is superficial and purely formal, but it is significant psychologically: it brings the authoritarian nature of…

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An inventor is a man who asks 'Why?' of the universe and lets nothing stand between the answer and his mind.

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Economics departments are dominated by Marxism, which is taken straight or on the rocks, in the form of Keynesianism.

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Capitalism is the only system that can make freedom, individuality, and the pursuit of values possible in practice.

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The man who refuses to judge, who neither agrees nor disagrees, who declares that there are no absolutes and believes that he…

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In a capitalist society, all human relationships are voluntary. Men are free to cooperate or not, to deal with one another or…

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People are not embracing collectivism because they have accepted bad economics. They are accepting bad economics because they have embraced collectivism.

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Laissez-faire capitalism is the only social system based on the recognition of individual rights and, therefore, the only system that bans force…

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Capitalism was the only system in history where wealth was not acquired by looting, but by production, not by force, but by…

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Every government interference in the economy consists of giving an unearned benefit, extorted by force, to some men at the expense of…

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Capitalism and altruism are incompatible; they are philosophical opposites; they cannot co-exist in the same man or in the same society.

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“One of the methods used by statists to destroy capitalism consists in establishing controls that tie a given industry hand and foot,…

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All the evils, abuses, and iniquities, popularly ascribed to businessmen and to capitalism, were not caused by an unregulated economy or by…

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Capitalism is a social system based on the recognition of individual rights, including property rights, in which all property is privately owned.

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“In a system of full capitalism, there should be (but, historically, has not yet been) a complete separation of state and economics,…

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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.

She watched the prairies the rivers, the towns slipping past at an untouchable distance below - and she noted that the sense of detachment…

“This was reality, she thought, this sense of clear outlines, of purpose, of lightness, of hope.”

A “collective” mind does not exist. It is merely the sum of endless numbers of individual minds. If we have an endless number of…

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…

“She moved her hand and let it rest against his. He did not withdraw his fingers and he did not pretend indifference. She bent…

This miracle of me is mine to own and keep, and mine to guard, and mine to use, and mine to kneel before.

“There was still one response, the greatest, that she had missed. She thought: To find a feeling that would hold, as their sum, as…

Inflation is not caused by the actions of private citizens, but by the government: by an artificial expansion of the money supply required to…

“We are fornicating in the sight of six billion people.”

“She was fifteen when it occurred to her for the first time that women did not run railroads and that people might object. To…

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…

Have you felt it too? Have you seen how your best friends love everything about you- except the things that count? And your most…

Every coercive monopoly was created by government intervention into the economy: by special privileges, such as franchises or subsidies, which closed the entry of…

We are all brothers under the skin - and I, for one, would be willing to skin humanity to prove it.