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Liberty Quotes by Ayn Rand

61 Liberty quotes by Ayn Rand

All Liberty quotes Ayn Rand’s page

Ayn Rand argues that government interference creates monopolies that choke freedom. She praises capitalism as the only system that lets individuals pursue their values. She also warns that collectivist ideas strip people of rights and invite oppression in society today.

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I am interested in politics so that one day I will not have to be interested in politics.

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I hold that such a question can never arise except in a society of cannibals.

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The man who produces while others dispose of his product is a slave.

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

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The degree of a country's freedom is the degree of its prosperity.

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Everyone has the right to make his own decisions, but none has the right to force his decision on others.

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We can evade reality, but we cannot evade the consequences of evading reality

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It is a free market that makes monopolies impossible.

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Whoever claims the right to redistribute the wealth produced by others is claiming the right to treat human beings as chattel.

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The spread of evil is the symptom of a vacuum. Whenever evil wins, it is only by default: by the moral failure…

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

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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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I say that man is entitled to his own happiness and that he must achieve it himself. But that he cannot demand…

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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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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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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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Volumes can be and have been written about the issue of freedom versus dictatorship, but, in essence, it comes down to a…

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Do not consider Collectivists as "sincere but deluded idealists". The proposal to enslave some men for the sake of others is not…

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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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“There is no difference between the principles, policies and practical results of socialism—and those of any historical or prehistorical tyranny. Socialism is…

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The only proper, moral purpose of a government is to protect man's rights, which means: to protect him from physical violence -…

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Creation comes before distribution - or there will be nothing to distribute. The need of the creator comes before the need of…

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Capitalism has created the highest standard of living ever known on earth. The evidence is incontrovertible. The contrast between West and East…

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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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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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I am opposed to all forms of control; I am for an absolute laissez faire, free, unregulated economy. I am for the…

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All "public interest' legislation (and any distribution of money taken by force from some men for the unearned benefit of others) comes…

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

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The uncontested absurdities of today are the accepted slogans of tomorrow.

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

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Capitalism is our only moral system. All other systems take advantage of man's rights and liberties.

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The man who speaks to you of sacrifice, speaks of slaves and masters. And intends to be the master.

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The Argument from Intimidation is a confession of intellectual impotence.

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We are now moving towards complete collectivism or socialism, a system under which everybody is enslaved to everybody.

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In any compromise between food and poison, it is only death that can win. In any compromise between good and evil, it…

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The government was set to protect man from criminals, and the Constitution was written to protect man from the government.

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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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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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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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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.