To say 'I love you' one must first be able to say the 'I.'
Ayn RandRead
To arrive at a contradiction is to confess an error in one's thinking; to maintain a contradiction is to abdicate one's mind and to evict oneself from the realm of reality.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Contradicting oneself signifies flawed reasoning, while holding onto contradictions disconnects one from reality.
This quote by Ayn Rand emphasizes the importance of clear and rational thinking. It suggests that arriving at contradictory beliefs indicates a mistake in one’s reasoning process, while persisting in such contradictions reflects a refusal to engage with reality and truth. Rational thought and consistency are crucial in understanding the world accurately.
Themes
ContradictionThinkingRealityReasoningPhilosophy
In practice
Example use cases
During a debate about moral philosophy, one might quote Rand to emphasize the importance of coherent thought.
More from Ayn Rand
All quotes →The 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 tell you, hopeless grief is passionless; That only men incredulous of despair, half-taught in anguish, through the midnight air beat upward to god's throne in loud access of shrieking and reproach
Elizabeth Barrett BrowningRead
If you were an optimistic teen, then you'll be an optimist at 80. People's reactions to bad events are highly stable over a half century or more.
Martin SeligmanRead
Mind is repetitive, mind always moves in circles. Mind is a mechanism: you feed it with knowledge, it repeats the same knowledge, it goes on chewing the same knowledge again and again. No-mind is clarity, purity, innocence. No-mind is the real way to live, the real way to know, the real way to be.
RajneeshRead
The burgeoning field of computer science has shifted our view of the physical world from that of a collection of interacting material particles to one of a seething network of information. In this way of looking at nature, the laws of physics are a form of software, or algorithm, while the material world-the hardware-plays the role of a gigantic computer.
Paul DaviesRead
War is cruelty, and you cannot refine it.
William Tecumseh ShermanRead
And this, our life, exempt from public haunt, finds tongues in trees, books in the running brooks, sermons in stones, and good in everything.
William ShakespeareRead