To say 'I love you' one must first be able to say the 'I.'
Ayn RandRead
In a fully free society, taxation-or, to be exact, payment for governmental services-would be voluntary.
Interpretation
What this quote means
In a truly free society, individuals would choose to pay for government services rather than be compelled to pay taxes.
Ayn Rand emphasizes the concept of a fully free society where individuals have the autonomy to decide whether to contribute to governmental services financially. In her view, true freedom entails the absence of obligatory taxation, suggesting that citizens should willingly engage in voluntary payments for the services they choose to receive from the government, thus cultivating personal responsibility and liberty.
Themes
FreedomTaxationGovernmentVoluntarismLiberty
In practice
Example use cases
During a debate on fiscal policies, one might reference this quote to argue for reducing mandatory taxes.
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.
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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
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I went inside my heart to see how it was. Something there makes me hear the whole world weeping.
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The first step in liquidating a people is to erase its memory. Destroy its books, its culture, its history. Then have somebody write new books, manufacture a new culture, invent a new history. Before long that nation will begin to forget what it is and what it was... The struggle of man against power is the struggle of memory against forgetting.
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It is my fundamental conviction that compassion - the natural capacity of the human heart to feel concern for and connection with another human being - constitutes a basic aspect of our nature shared by all human beings, as well as being the foundation of our happiness. All ethical teachings, whether religious or nonreligious, aim to nurture this innate and precious quality, to develop it and to perfect it.
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Can you do Division? Divide a loaf by a knife - what's the answer to that?
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Does that not sound odd to you? When God decides who should live or die, he is immoral, When you decide who should live or die, it's your moral right. There was a pin-drop silence.
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So far as I am acquainted with the principles and doctrines of Freemasonry, I conceive it to be founded in benevolence and to be exercised only for the good of mankind.
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