• "My philosophy, in essence, is the concept of man as a heroic being, with his own happiness as the moral purpose of his life, with productive achievement as his noblest activity, and reason as his only absolute."

• When asked to present the essence of her philosophy while standing on one foot, Ayn Rand did so as follows:
  1. Metaphysics: Objective Reality
  2. Epistemology: Reason
  3. Ethics: Self-interest
  4. Politics: Capitalism
  She went on to say that in simple language, it would read:
  1. "Nature, to be commanded, must be obeyed." or "Wishing won't make it so."
  2. "You can't eat your cake and have it, too."
  3. "Man is an end in himself."
  4. "Give me liberty, or give me death."

• "I am not primarily an advocate of capitalism, but of egoism; and I am not primarily an advocate of egoism, but of reason. If one recognizes the supremacy of reason and applies it consistently, all the rest follows."

• "This -- the supremacy of reason -- was, is, and will be the primary concern of my work, and the essence of Objectivism."

All quotes reprinted from The Ayn Rand Lexicon subject heading "Objectivism", pages 343-345 (softback).