“You can avoid reality, but you cannot avoid the consequences of avoiding reality.” – Ayn Rand

About Ayn Rand 

Ayn Rand (1905-1982) was the pen name of Alice O’Connor, a Russian-born American philosopher and author. She wrote two bestselling novels, Atlas Shrugged (1957) and The Fountainhead (1943), and is known for developing a philosophical system called Objectivism, which asserts that self-interest is the highest moral purpose and that reason is the only absolute.

She argued – inspirationally, sometimes – that humans are born with the capacity for reason and should pursue their own happiness, not sacrifice themselves for others.

I’m not an ideologue and don’t favor them because they get themselves in rhetorical tangles that are rationally impossible to get out of. That said, Rand was very good at debate and much fun to watch.

You’ll get a good sense of how brilliant she is here as she explains Objectivism to Mike Wallace.