Ifs Quotes by Ayn Rand

If you write a whole line of zeroes, it's still — nothing.

— Ayn Rand

If a society is to be free, its government has to be controlled.

— Ayn Rand

...if men are to be ruled, then the enemy is reason.

— Ayn Rand

If men want to oppose war, it is statism that they must oppose.

— Ayn Rand

If the truth shall kill them, let them die.

— Ayn Rand

If you want to feel good, be rational.

— Ayn Rand

If a life can have a 'theme-song' - and I believe every worthwhile one has - mine is [best] expressed in one…

— Ayn Rand

If he can give his readers no reason why they should read his book, except that the events happened to him, it…

— Ayn Rand

If workers struggle for higher wages, this is hailed as "social gains", if businessmen struggle for higher profits, this is damned as…

— Ayn Rand

Even if smog were a risk to human life, we must remember that life in nature, without technology, is wholesale death.

— Ayn Rand

If any part of your uncertainty, is a conflict between your heart and your mind - follow your mind.

— Ayn Rand

If you tell an ugly woman that she is beautiful, you offer her the great homage of corrupting the concept of beauty.

— Ayn Rand

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

— Ayn Rand

There is nothing wrong in helping other people, if and when they are worthy of the help and you can afford to…

— Ayn Rand

Science was born as a result and consequence of philosophy; it cannot survive without a philosophical base. If philosophy perishes, science will…

— Ayn Rand

If, before undertaking some action, you must obtain the permission of society-you are not free, whether such permission is granted to you…

— Ayn Rand

A businessman cannot force you to buy his product; if he makes a mistake, he suffers the consequences; if he fails, he…

— Ayn Rand

If a man wants love he should correct his weaknesses, or his flaws, and he may deserve it. But he cannot expect…

— Ayn Rand

If you tell an amateur that his story is not good, he always declares indignantly: 'Oh, but it really happened just like…

— Ayn Rand

Consider the reasons which make us certain that we are right, but not the fact that we are certain. If you are…

— Ayn Rand

Let no man posture as an advocate of peace if he proposes or supports any social system that initiates the use of…

— Ayn Rand

I would step in the way of a bullet if it were aimed at my husband. It is not self-sacrifice to die…

— Ayn Rand

If you surrender everything to the government and give it total power to plan the whole economy, this will not guarantee your…

— Ayn Rand

No matter how vast your knowledge or how modest, it is your own mind that has to acquire it. It is only…

— 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

You're not sorry. You could've been here if you made the effort. But when did you ever make an effort for anybody…

— Ayn Rand

Every dictator is a mystic, and every mystic is a potential dictator. A mystic craves obedience from men, not their agreement. He…

— Ayn Rand

If you want to know the one reason that's taking me back, I'll tell you: I cannot bring myself to abandon to…

— Ayn Rand

If a man speculates on what 'society' should do for the poor, he accepts thereby the collectivist premise that men's lives belong…

— Ayn Rand

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

— Ayn Rand

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

— Ayn Rand

It is futile to fight against, if one does not know what one is fighting for.

— Ayn Rand

It stands to reason that if sacrifices are being given, somebody is collecting sacrifices.

— Ayn Rand

If a dedication page were to precede the total of my work, it would read: To the glory of Man.

— Ayn Rand

Honesty is the recognition of the fact that the unreal is unreal and can have no value, that neither love nor fame…

— Ayn Rand

If some men are entitled by right to the products of the work of others, it means that those others are deprived…

— Ayn Rand

Do not keep silent when your own ideas and values are being attacked. If a dictatorship ever comes to this country, it…

— Ayn Rand

I refuse to apologize for my ability -- I refuse to apologize for my success -- I refuse to apologize for my…

— Ayn Rand

If you get caught at some crucial point and somebody tells you that your doctrine doesn't make sense - you're ready for…

— 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