When others demand that we become the people they want us to be, they force us to destroy the person we really are. It's a subtle kind of murder ... the most loving parents and relatives commit this murder with smiles on their faces.

As you can see, I have memorized this utterly useless piece of information long enough to pass a test question. I now intend to forget it forever. You’ve taught me nothing except how to cynically manipulate the system. Congratulations.

If you want to tell people the truth, make them laugh; otherwise they'll kill you.

We can regard our life as a uselessly disturbing episode in the blissful repose of nothingness.

Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored.

We must never forget that human motives are generally far more complicated than we are apt to suppose, and that we can very rarely accurately describe the motives of another.

Does anyone else get really really sick of being right? Especially when people don't listen to you. It's like the answer, whatever it may be, is as clear as day in your head but whomever doesn't "believe" you.

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

They have coined me as “mad” and entitled themselves to “normal” because I refuse to align with their beliefs and mannerisms. If I am mad because of this, then perhaps “madness” is simply a pair of powerful spectacles and “normalness” is mental myopia.

Believing that you can move mountains sometimes is more important than actually having the ability to do so.