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After centuries of being pounded with the doctrine that altruism is the ultimate ideal, men have accepted it in the only way it could be accepted. By seeking self-esteem through others. By living second-hand. .. It has become the dreadful form of selfishness which a truly selfish man couldn’t have conceived.

— Ayn Rand Howard Roark in The Fountainhead (1996)

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Confidence

More quotes by Ayn Rand

“Free competition enforced by law” is a grotesque contradiction in terms.

A world where the thought of each man will not be his own, but an attempt to guess the thought of his neighbor.

Ellsworth Toohey in The Fountainhead (1943)

Today, racism is regarded as a crime if practiced by a majority—but as an inalienable right if practiced by a minority.

The New Left: The Anti-Industrial Revolution (1971)

Racism is the lowest, most crudely primitive form of collectivism.

The Virtue of Selfishness (1964)

I shall love and respect, but neither command nor obey.

Anthem (1938)

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The wise treat self-respect as non-negotiable, and will not trade it for health or wealth or anything else.

Thomas Szasz The Second Sin (1973)

Self-respect is the cornerstone of all virtue.

John Herschel A Toolbox for Humanity : More Than 9000 Years of Thought (2004)

Nothing is better for self-esteem than survival.

Martha Gellhorn Travels with Myself and Another: A Memoir (1978)

If you want to be respected by others the great thing is to respect yourself. Only by that, only by self-respect will you compel others to respect you.

Fyodor Dostoyevsky The Insulted and the Injured (1861)

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Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Ayn Rand (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.