Most people don't see that they have options beyond what society tells them to do. That's the biggest problem. They honestly believe that compliance is the shortcut to success.

There are no evil thoughts, Mr. Rearden, except one: the refusal to think.

The trouble with fiction... is that it makes too much sense. Reality never makes sense.

Nothing in life is to be feared, it is only to be understood.

I can’t think of any greater happiness than to be with you all the time, without interruption, endlessly, even though I feel that here in this world there’s no undisturbed place for our love, neither in the village nor anywhere else; and I dream of a grave, deep and narrow, where we could clasp each other in our arms as with clamps, and I would hide my face in you and you would hide your face in me, and nobody would ever see us any more.

I saw that my life was a vast glowing empty page and I could do anything I wanted.

Do unto others 20% better than you would expect them to do unto you, to correct for subjective error.

Nothing in the world is harder than speaking the truth and nothing easier than flattery.

Nothing of me is original. I am the combined effort of everybody I've ever known.

Sometimes we need silence to let our minds roar.