To say 'I love you' one must first be able to say the 'I.'
Ayn RandRead
Collectivism answers: The power of society is unlimited. Society may make any laws it wishes, and force them upon anyone in any manner it wishes.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote raises concerns about the potential tyranny of majority rule in a collectivist society.
Ayn Rand's quote critiques the concept of collectivism, highlighting the idea that if society wields unlimited power, it can impose any laws or rules on individuals, potentially leading to oppression and the loss of personal freedoms. Rand warns against the dangers of allowing society's whims to dictate individual rights, advocating instead for the protection of personal liberty against the whims of the collective.
Themes
CollectivismSocietyFreedomLawsIndividualityOppression
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech about the importance of individual rights in the face of governmental power.
More from Ayn Rand
All quotes βThe difference between animals and humans is that animals change themselves for the environment, but humans change the environment for themselves.
Ayn RandRead
It is my eyes which see, and the sight of my eyes grants beauty to the earth. It is my ears which hear, and the hearing of my ears gives its song to the world. It is my mind which thinks, and the judgement of my mind is the only searchlight that can find the truth. It is my will which chooses, and the choice of my will is the only edict I must respect.
Ayn RandRead
What is the basic, the essential, the crucial principle that differentiates freedom from slavery? It is the principle of voluntary action versus physical coercion or compulsion.
Ayn RandRead
One method of destroying a concept is by diluting its meaning. Observe that by ascribing rights to the unborn, i.e., the nonliving, the anti-abortionists obliterate the rights of the living.
Ayn RandRead
I think that when in doubt about the truth of an issue, it's safer and in better taste to select the least numerous of the adversaries.
Ayn RandRead
Similar quotes
I now bid farewell to the country of my birth - of my passions - of my death; a country whose misfortunes have invoked my sympathies - whose factions I sought to quell - whose intelligence I prompted to a lofty aim - whose freedom has been my fatal dream.
Thomas Francis MeagherRead
I really don't want to portray the Islamists as simply evil, the way it's often done in the west.
Orhan PamukRead
And so it is they who, between them, give me all the reasons for believing in none.
Salman RushdieRead
The imagination never forgets; it is a re-membering. It is not foundationless, but most reasonable, and it alone uses all the knowledge of the intellect.
Henry David ThoreauRead
Some people probably think of the Resurrection as a desperate last moment expedient to save the Hero from a situation which had got out of the Author's control.
C. S. LewisRead
I think life is difficult and that's that. I am not at all - absolutely not at all - interested in the pursuit of happiness. I am not interested in the pursuit of positivity. I am interested in pursuing a truth, and the truth often seems to be not happiness but its opposite.
Jamaica KincaidRead