--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Style is not an end in itself, it is only…" description: "\"Style is not an end in itself, it is only a means to an end - the means of telling a story.\" — Ayn Rand" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/8b0/ayn-rand-59_ends_style-is-not-an-end-in-itself-it-is-only_3025059.jpg" --- # Style is not an end in itself, it is only a means to an… ![“Style is not an end in itself, it is only a means to an end - the means of telling a story.” quote by Ayn Rand](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/8b0/ayn-rand-59_ends_style-is-not-an-end-in-itself-it-is-only_3025059.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/8b0/ayn-rand-59_ends_style-is-not-an-end-in-itself-it-is-only_3025059.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/8b0/ayn-rand-59_ends_style-is-not-an-end-in-itself-it-is-only_3025059.jpg) > “Style is not an end in itself, it is only a means to an end - the means of telling a story.” [Ayn Rand](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ayn-rand/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Style is a tool, not the goal; it serves storytelling. **In simple terms:** Style helps tell a story, not an end itself. Key Takeaway Focus on story, not just style. Themes writing storytelling means Mood analytical reflective Type advice philosophical When to use this quote - novel writing - screenwriting - branding - public speaking Key Concepts aesthetics functionality Questions to Reflect On - How does your style serve your story? - When does style distract? A Different Perspective Overemphasis on style can obscure message. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Fashion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/fashion/) [Stories](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/stories/) [Style](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/style/) [Telling A Story](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/telling-a-story/) ## Related quotes > [A story is an end in itself. It is not written to teach, sell, explain or destroy anything. It is not written even to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ayn-rand/a-story-is-an-end-in-itself-it-is-not-written-to-teach-sell-explain/) [Ayn Rand](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ayn-rand/) > [Mary-Kate and I are very aware of trends and style, but at the end of the day, we don't even think twice about it.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ashley-olsen/mary-kate-and-i-are-very-aware-of-trends-and-style-but-at-the-end-of/) [Ashley Olsen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ashley-olsen/) > [The hallmark of the minor artist is to be obsessed with style as an end in itself.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-hughes/the-hallmark-of-the-minor-artist-is-to-be-obsessed-with-style-as-an/) [Robert Hughes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-hughes/) > [Language has no independent existence apart from the people who use it. It is not an end in itself; it is a means to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-crystal/language-has-no-independent-existence-apart-from-the-people-who-use/) [David Crystal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-crystal/) > [Always treat people as ends in themselves, never as means to an end.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/immanuel-kant/always-treat-people-as-ends-in-themselves-never-as-means-to-an-end/) [Immanuel Kant](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/immanuel-kant/) > [When work is no more than a means to an end, it cannot be of high quality.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eckhart-tolle/when-work-is-no-more-than-a-means-to-an-end-it-cannot-be-of-high/) [Eckhart Tolle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eckhart-tolle/) > [Art grabs people by their eyeballs, it seduces them ... art is a means to an end rather than simply an end in itself.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eric-drooker/art-grabs-people-by-their-eyeballs-it-seduces-them-art-is-a-means-to/) [Eric Drooker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eric-drooker/) > [Water is a means to an end, not an end in itself.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-gleick/water-is-a-means-to-an-end-not-an-end-in-itself/) Peter Gleick > [When you always want the next thing, every human being becomes a means to an end.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eckhart-tolle/when-you-always-want-the-next-thing-every-human-being-becomes-a-means/) [Eckhart Tolle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eckhart-tolle/) > [Propaganda is not an end in itself, but a means to an end. If the means achieves the end then the means is good...…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-goebbels/propaganda-is-not-an-end-in-itself-but-a-means-to-an-end-if-the-means/) [Joseph Goebbels](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-goebbels/) > [Reading is not an end to itself, but a means to an end.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adolf-hitler/reading-is-not-an-end-to-itself-but-a-means-to-an-end/) [Adolf Hitler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/adolf-hitler/) > [Meditation is not a means to an end. It is both the means and the end.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jiddu-krishnamurti/meditation-is-not-a-means-to-an-end-it-is-both-the-means-and-the-end/) [Jiddu Krishnamurti](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jiddu-krishnamurti/) > [We often think of prayer as a means to an end. Prayer is the goal.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/francis-chan/we-often-think-of-prayer-as-a-means-to-an-end-prayer-is-the-goal/) [Francis Chan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/francis-chan/) > [Humor, for me, is really a gate of departure. Its a way of enticing a reader into a poem so that less funny things…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/billy-collins/humor-for-me-is-really-a-gate-of-departure-its-a-way-of-enticing-a/) [Billy Collins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/billy-collins/) > [Don't get stuck on the level of words. A word is no more than a means to an end. It's an abstraction. Not unlike…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eckhart-tolle/don-t-get-stuck-on-the-level-of-words-a-word-is-no-more-than-a-means/) [Eckhart Tolle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eckhart-tolle/) ## 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/) [Explore all 1,777 Ayn Rand quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ayn-rand/) ## More Ends quotes > [I understand that it's the music that keeps me alive... That's my lifeblood. And to give that up for, like, the TV, the cars,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bruce-springsteen/i-understand-that-it-s-the-music-that-keeps-me-alive-that-s-my/) [Bruce Springsteen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bruce-springsteen/) > [The end is nothing; the road is all.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/willa-cather/the-end-is-nothing-the-road-is-all/) [Willa Cather](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/willa-cather/) > [Well, The Day the Earth Caught Fire was a story... I don't if anybody knows what it is but it was about... in the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/val-guest/well-the-day-the-earth-caught-fire-was-a-story-i-don-t-if-anybody/) [Val Guest](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/val-guest/) > [Bush reiterated his stand to conservatives opposing his decision on stem cell research. He said today he believes life begins at conception and ends…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jay-leno/bush-reiterated-his-stand-to-conservatives-opposing-his-decision-on/) [Jay Leno](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jay-leno/) > [Dating someone on the opposite end of the happy spectrum teaches you an incredible amount of patience.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chris-pine/dating-someone-on-the-opposite-end-of-the-happy-spectrum-teaches-you/) [Chris Pine](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chris-pine/) > [What is history after all? History is facts which become lies in the end.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-cocteau/what-is-history-after-all-history-is-facts-which-become-lies-in-the/) [Jean Cocteau](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-cocteau/) > [Sometimes it's just enough for me to have the idea. I don't need to see it through to the end. When it actually happens,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/amy-sedaris/sometimes-it-s-just-enough-for-me-to-have-the-idea-i-don-t-need-to/) [Amy Sedaris](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/amy-sedaris/) > [In the fight between biology and morality, biology has commonly won in the end.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/semir-zeki/in-the-fight-between-biology-and-morality-biology-has-commonly-won-in/) [Semir Zeki](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/semir-zeki/) > [At the end of night, before you close your eyes, be content with what you've done and be proud of who you are.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steve-almond/at-the-end-of-night-before-you-close-your-eyes-be-content-with-what/) [Steve Almond](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steve-almond/) > [it is the brevity of life which makes it tolerable; its experiences have value because they have an end.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/winifred-holtby/it-is-the-brevity-of-life-which-makes-it-tolerable-its-experiences/) [Winifred Holtby](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/winifred-holtby/) > [I hope that the Palestinians don't make the mistake of unleashing a new intifada. They've tried it twice before, and the consequences were bad…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tom-segev/i-hope-that-the-palestinians-don-t-make-the-mistake-of-unleashing-a/) [Tom Segev](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tom-segev/) > [Believe to the end, even if all men went astray and you were left the only one faithful; bring your offering even then and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fyodor-dostoevsky/believe-to-the-end-even-if-all-men-went-astray-and-you-were-left-the/) [Fyodor Dostoevsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fyodor-dostoevsky/) > [When the amount of change externally exceeds the amount of change internally, the end is in sight.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jack-welch/when-the-amount-of-change-externally-exceeds-the-amount-of-change/) [Jack Welch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jack-welch/) > [A man cannot speak but he judges himself. With his will or against his will he draws his portrait to the eye of his…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ralph-waldo-emerson/a-man-cannot-speak-but-he-judges-himself-with-his-will-or-against-his/) [Ralph Waldo Emerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ralph-waldo-emerson/) > [The beginning of love is all about the butterflies, but the end of it is when you can't get out of bed in the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/taylor-swift/the-beginning-of-love-is-all-about-the-butterflies-but-the-end-of-it/) [Taylor Swift](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/taylor-swift/) Browse all 20,790 Ends quotes ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Style is not an end in itself, it is only a means to an end - the means of telling a story.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Ayn Rand" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ayn-rand/style-is-not-an-end-in-itself-it-is-only-a-means-to-an-end-the-means/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Ends" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ayn-rand/style-is-not-an-end-in-itself-it-is-only-a-means-to-an-end-the-means/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/8b0/ayn-rand-59_ends_style-is-not-an-end-in-itself-it-is-only_3025059.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/8b0/ayn-rand-59_ends_style-is-not-an-end-in-itself-it-is-only_3025059.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/8b0/ayn-rand-59_ends_style-is-not-an-end-in-itself-it-is-only_3025059.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Style is not an end in itself, it is only a means to an end - the means of telling a story.” — Ayn Rand", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Ayn Rand", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ayn-rand/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "Style is not an end in...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ayn-rand/style-is-not-an-end-in-itself-it-is-only-a-means-to-an-end-the-means/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ayn-rand/style-is-not-an-end-in-itself-it-is-only-a-means-to-an-end-the-means/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```