Ayn Rand Quotes on Desire (7 Quotes)

Only the man who extols the purity of love devoid of desire, is capable of the depravity of a desire devoid of love.

The world you desire can be won. It exists.. it is real.. it is possible.. it's yours.

You have no choice about your capacity to feel that something is good for you or evil, but what you will consider good or evil, what will give you joy or pain, what you will love or hate, desire or fear, depends on your standard of value.

What did they seek from him What were they after He had never asked anything of them it was they who wished to hold him, they who pressed a claim on him - and they seemed to have the form of affection, but it was a form which he found harder to endure than any sort of hatred. He despised causeless affection, just as he despised unearned wealth. They professed to love him for some unknown reason and they ignored all the things for which he could wish to be loved. He wondered what response they could hope to obtain from him in such manner - if his response was what they wanted. And it was, he thought else why those constant complaints, those unceasing accusations about his indifference Why that chronic air of suspicion, as if they were waiting to be hurt He had never had a desire to hurt them, but he had always felt their defensive, reproachful expectation they seemed wounded by anything he said, it was not a matter of his words or actions, it was almost . . . almost as if they were wounded by the mere fact of his being. Don't start imagining the insane - he told himself severely, struggling to face the riddle with the strictest of his ruthless sense of justice. He could not condemn them without understanding and he could not understand.

Why is it immoral for you to desire, but moral for others to do so Why is it immoral to produce a value and keep it, but moral to give it away And if it is not moral for you to keep a value, why is it moral for others to accept it If you are selfless and virtuous when you give it, are they not selfish and vicious when they take it.

Do not ever say that the desire to "do good" by force is a good motive. Neither power-lust nor stupidity are good motives.

A creative man is motivated by the desire to achieve, not by the desire to beat others.