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Sunday, August 9, 2020

Ayn Rand and Friedrich Nietzsche - The Top Ten Quotes

These are the top ten (my ten favorite) quotes said by philosophers Ayn Rand and Friedrich Nietzsche:

1. "How can you return to me if you do not leave me?" - Nietzsche

2. "Build it as a monument to that spirit which is yours . . . and could have been mine." - Rand

3. "Sometimes, when you stare into the abyss, the abyss stares into you." - Nietzsche

4. "Insist on it." - Rand

5. "God is dead, and we are the ones who killed Him." - Nietzsche

6. "Are you happy, Mr. Superman?" - Rand (Yes, this is Rand, not Nietzsche - she is referring to him. It's one of my favorite lines from The Fountainhead.)

7. "I swear, by my life and my love of it, that I will never live for the sake of another man, nor ask another man to live for mine." - Rand

8. "A philosopher must always be forgiven for his first followers." - Nietzsche

9. "It's the soul, Peter, the soul, not whips or swords or fire or guns." - Rand

10. "He didn't want to make money, only to get it." - Rand

The Top Ten Virtues from The John Galt Speech in Atlas Shrugged

 I have not seen a simple list of the virtues enumerated in Atlas Shrugged, so I made this list:

1. Reason

2. Purpose

3. Self-Esteem

4. Rationality

5. Independence

6. Integrity

7. Honesty

8. Justice

9. Productiveness

10. Pride

For Ayn Rand's explication of these virtues, see pages 932-33, Atlas Shrugged, Signet Paperback Edition.

One can further subdivide this list: Reason, Purpose and Self-Esteem are "the Big Three Virtues," Rationality, Independence and Integrity are "The Intellectual Virtues," and Honesty, Justice, Productiveness and Pride are "The Social Virtues." These three sets of values comprise the bedrock foundation of Objectivist morality.