The Fountainhead
I just finished reading The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand. A philosophical fiction that stresses on integrity, individualism, creativity, selfishness (a very different perspective), egotism and man worship. A very different view point on altruism, self sacrifice and all the things that make a man a second hander. I made several notes and highlighted phrases, sections which I liked.
Inspired and motivated to make the world around me as the world presented in The Fountainhead.
Ayn Rand at the begining of the book talking about the bond with her husband: “The essence of the bond between us is the fact that neither of us has ever wanted or been tempted to settle for anything less than the world presented in The Fountainhead. We never will”
“One cannot give up the world to those one despises”
Howard Roark when expelled from the college: “I won’t be back. I have nothing further to learn here”
“Men hate passion, any great passion”
“To ask nothing. To expect nothing. To depend on nothing”
Howard Roark to the depressed Steven Mallory: “I think you’re the best sculptor we’ve got. I think it, because your fingers are not what men are, but what men could be - and should be”
“When you see a man casting pearls without getting even a pork chop in return - it is not against the swine that you feel indignation”
Howard Roark on Steven Mallory: “But don’t they know that if suffering could be measured, there’s more suffering in Steven Mallory when he can’t do the work he wants to do”
“People want nothing but mirrors around them. To reflect them while they’re reflecting too”
“It’s said that the worst thing once can do to a man is to kill his self respect. But that’s not true. Self respect is something that can’t be killed”
“It takes two to make every great career: the man who is great and the man - almost rarer - who is great enough to see greatness and say so”
“We live in our minds, and existence is the attempt to bring that life into physical reality, to state it in gesture and form.”
“To get things done, you must love the doing, not the secondary consequences. The work, not the people. Your own action, not any possible object of your charity”
“A truly selfish man cannot be affected by the approval of others. He doesn’t need it”
“You can fake virtue for an audience. You can’t fake it in your own eyes. Your ego is your strictest judge”
Howard Roark - Architect “I wished to come here and say that integrity of a man’s creative work is of greater importance that any charitable endeavor.”
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