Comments on: Top 25 Ayn Rand Quotes

By: Jiblets

Jiblets — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 18:42:01 +0000

Fantastic list. I’ve read all her fiction and much of her non-fiction. She truly is a fantastic thinker. She’s unfairly maligned in Academia which is not surprising considering I’ve seen tons of Academics and philosophers completely misunderstand and misrepresent her philosophy which shows they haven’t actually explored it properly.
Which is very similar to the Anti-Rand comments in this list, with so many people completely misunderstanding her philosophy.

Anyway, great list. And she’s a wonderful thinker.

By: dizy

dizy — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 17:23:55 +0000

@Ayn Rand – blow me.

By: Yaargh

Yaargh — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 03:29:57 +0000

Rand is Nietzsche for the trailer trash set, with some ridiculous economic ideas thrown in.

Yup, lets pretend market failures don’t happen, and if they do lets just say its all the fault of the federal reserve.

Utter idiocy disguised as philosophy/economics.

By: Trip

Trip — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 12:33:53 +0000

I think Rand reached the peak of logic that an Atheist can comprehend. Without the variable input of spirit, one can only go so far in this world, and it will most likley mentally conclude to a self-centered philosophy, with no value or merit for the human conditon. We all have our measure of success in this world, but her dictation on life is a direct violation of biblical principals. (IE: Proverbs chapter 3:5-6
“5 Trust in the LORD with all your heart AND LEAN NOT ON YOUR OWN UNDERSTANDING;

6 in all your ways acknowledge him,
and he will make your paths straight”.)
I do have my own questions in regards to certain text in the Bible at times, but at the end of the day, I know that I pledge alligence to Jesus Christ, and I think that I am a better person for it…

By: smirnoff

smirnoff — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 04:28:59 +0000

John Sawyer-
I think you should reread some of Rand’s work more carefully before you criticize her ideas on charity and altruism.

She did not flat out denounce giving to others. She did, however, denounce being forced to give to others (ie. income taxes, public welfare, etc.) and making sacrifices to help others at your own expense. She instructed individuals to follow their own set of values and moral codes instead of blindly following others’.

example: If you donate funds to build a library in your community, that’s ok so long as you value the education of those that will benefit more than you value the money you donated. In this case, the altruist feels happy and gains a feeling of self-worth.

It’s not ok if you donate the money because you feel a “social obligation,” if it means you must make a sacrifice, or if you are forced to do it via taxes. This leaves the altruist feeling bitter and resentful towards the library and those who benefit from it because he does not value them more than he values the money he lost.

Ayn Rand envisioned a state where no one makes sacrifices. This seems like a noble ideal to me and I think people would be a good deal happier in this world. Sadly, with increased gov. programs and increasing taxes, we are moving away from Rand’s goal.

And for those who think the rich would hoard all of their money if they weren’t forced to part with it, what about carnegie? what about rockefeller? without the “forced charity” that’s being implemented today, these men and others from their era donated exorbitant amounts of money to public welfare projects. And guess what: they were glad to do it, not grumbling about high taxes and gov. spending.

By: E

Tue, 21 Jul 2009 07:22:09 +0000

Selfishness is a virtue. If we don’t make ourselves happy, what good are we to others?

By: The right one

The right one — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 14:32:59 +0000

You people crack me up. It’s not survival of the fittest. If someone saw a need to build and fund a school then they would do it and make money providing the best school. Why/ Because people would want to send their kids there. Rand was a woman far smarter then some of you. You think without government you would have nothing. You were government schooled so that is not a shock.

Reason and logic are powerful things and it appears to powerful for some of you who want a nanny state.

By: John Sawyer

John Sawyer — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 10:15:50 +0000

jfrater @50 says:

“while I agree that we should help others out, I think it should be through charity – for the love of our neighbours we should help them. When the government takes away our choice in charity, why bother to help anyone at all – the government is doing it for you.”

In Rand’s philosophy, altruism is bad. Charity is altruism. In her philosophy, we might be able to love our neighbors, but not help them in any way if they were in need. Talk about pointless conundrums.

As for the government taking away our choice in charity, where do you see that happening?

By: John Sawyer

John Sawyer — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 09:55:52 +0000

Rational self-interest doesn’t have to automatically exclude rational altruism. That’s one thing that Rand got wrong. She abhorred altruism in any form–at best, she was only in favor of trickle-down beneficial effects of each person’s efforts expended on themselves, somehow finding their way into aiding others.

When a person truly needs help, they need help. No amount of trickle-down will save a person who’s fallen part-way down a cliff, and is hanging on for dear life, hoping someone at the top of the cliff will stretch down a hand or a branch. In Rand’s world, to stretch out a hand to such a person, instead of telling them to crawl up the cliff themselves, is a no-no. Rand amused herself throughout her life with little contradictions like this, and refused to acknowledge that such contradictions weren’t just peculiar items to somehow be explained away, but rather were proof that her extreme form of selfishness was irrational.

By: hyoomen

hyoomen — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 04:57:11 +0000

Clearly people will continue to levy judgments in whatever way they wish, but to suggest that Ayn Rand’s philosophical views are reducible to narrow-minded selfishness is to demonstrate ignorance of the great depth of exploration on the subject of rational self-interest by Rand, Nathaniel Branden, and others.