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Meaning
This reads as a statement of values built around selfhood, ambition, and thought. It can be taken to mean that a good life is one guided by chosen goals, productive work, and clear reasoning rather than duty imposed from outside. It lands when someone is trying to explain a worldview, not just a preference.
When It Was Said
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Who It Was Said To
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Historical Context
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Source
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Original Language & Translation
Originally said in English.
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About Ayn Rand
Russian-American writer and philosopher
Ayn Rand, born Alice O'Connor, was a Russian-American writer and philosopher. She is known for her fiction and for developing Objectivism, the philosophical system she named. Her work brought together storytelling and philosophy, and she became closely associated with a body of ideas that she presented as Objectivism. Her writing is known for combining fiction with arguments about reason, individualism, and the role of philosophy in life.
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More Purpose quotes
- “The purpose of life is to help others, and if you can't help them, won't you at least not hurt them? I know t…”Leo Buscaglia
- “if you are suffering without a belief in God, then there is not a lot of hope that your pain has any greater…”Jon Morrison
- “Improvement of civic facilities is among our priorities, and for this purpose, education, health, infrastruct…”Shehbaz Sharif
More Happiness quotes
- “Anybody can have a birthday. It requires nothing. Murderers have birthdays. It's the opposite of anything tha…”Mindy Kaling
- “Happiness lies even in ltiny ittle butterflies. You just have to open up your eyes and see where beauty flies…”Ana Claudia Antunes
- “Happiness lies for those who cry, those who hurt, those who have searched, and those who have tried for only…”Victor Hugo
READ THE SOURCE
Books by Ayn Rand
Anthem
1995
Atlas Shrugged (Centennial Ed. HC)
1992
The Fountainhead
2004
We the living
2009
For the New Intellectual
1963