{"id":560,"date":"2008-01-02T07:50:48","date_gmt":"2008-01-02T14:50:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.scotthyoung.com\/blog\/2008\/01\/02\/quotes-from-atlas-shrugged\/"},"modified":"2018-04-03T08:48:01","modified_gmt":"2018-04-03T15:48:01","slug":"quotes-from-atlas-shrugged","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.scotthyoung.com\/blog\/2008\/01\/02\/quotes-from-atlas-shrugged\/","title":{"rendered":"Quotes From Atlas Shrugged"},"content":{"rendered":"

Over the last two weeks I\u2019ve been churning through Ayn Rand\u2019s epic novel, Atlas Shrugged<\/a>\"\"<\/strong>. The book is close to 1200 pages long and covers Rand\u2019s philosophy of Objectivism<\/a>. The story follows a man who said he would, \u201cstop the motor of the world,\u201d and did. Rand\u2019s philosophy centers around the idea that it is a person\u2019s selfish ego that is the driving force for human progress.<\/p>\n

Here are some choice quotes:<\/p>\n

On money…<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cSo you think that money is the root of all evil?\u201d said Francisco d\u2019Anconia, \u201cHave you ever asked what is the root of money? Money is a tool of exchange, which can\u2019t exist unless there are goods produced and men able to produce them. Money is the material shape of the principle that men who deal with one another must deal by trade and give value for value. Money is not the tool of the moochers, who claim your product by tears, or of the looters, who take it from you by force. Money is made possible only by the men who produce. Is this what you consider evil?\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cMoney will not purchase happiness for the man who has no concept of what he wants: money will not give him a code of values if he\u2019s evaded the knowledge of what to value, and it will not provide him with a purpose, if he\u2019s evaded the choice of what to seek.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cThe man who damns money has obtained it dishonorably; the man who respects it has earned it.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

On the difference between thinking<\/em> and feeling<\/em>…<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t feel that you\u2019re right, so I know that you\u2019re wrong.\u201d
\n \u201cHow do you know it?\u201d<\/strong>
\n\u201cI feel it. I don\u2019t go by my head but by my heart. You might be good at logic, but you\u2019re heartless.\u201d
\n \u201cMadame, when we\u2019ll see men dying of starvation around us, your heart won\u2019t be of any earthly use to them.\u201d<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Rand\u2019s views center on the supreme right of the individual. That means that taxes, trade restrictions and charity are all forms of evil which punish the strong to sustain the weak. While I\u2019m not sure I agree with Rand\u2019s philosophy when applied to politics as a whole, there are more than a few individual lessons I\u2019ve gathered from this book.<\/p>\n

A few thoughts that I came across when reading this and Rand\u2019s earlier book, The Fountainhead:<\/p>\n