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Nathaniel Branden Quotes
1930–2014 Canada
Nathaniel Branden (9 April 1930 – 3 December 2014) was a psychotherapist and writer most famous for his works on the psychology of self-esteem. Once an associate of novelist-philosopher Ayn Rand, Branden had a prominent role in promoting Rand's philosophy, Objectivism.
Canada Libertarians Non-fiction authors Psychologists Also known as: Branden, Nathaniel
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I regard the judgment of people as a waste of time. I regard the judgment of behavior as imperative.
It would be hard to name a more certain sign of poor self-esteem than the need to perceive some other group as inferior.
The Six Pillars of Self-Esteem (1994)
Pride is the emotional reward of achievement. It is not a vice to be overcome but a virtue to be attained.
The Six Pillars of Self-Esteem (1994)
Rand always says, “Never pass up an opportunity to pass moral judgment.” Well I say: “Look for an opportunity to do something more useful instead.” Nobody was led to virtue by being told he was a scoundrel.
Man's need of self-esteem entails the need for a sense of control over reality – but no control is possible in a universe which, by one's own concession, contains the supernatural, the miraculous and the causeless, a universe in which one is at the mercy of ghosts and demons, in which one must deal, not with the unknown, but with the unknowable; no control is possible if man proposes, but a ghost disposes; no control is possible if the universe is a haunted house.
Mental Health versus Mysticism and Self-Sacrifice (1963)
The policy of seeking values from human beings by means of force, when practiced by an individual, is called crime. When practiced by a government, it is called statism—or totalitarianism or collectivism or communism or socialism or nazism or fascism or the welfare state.
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