The Morality of Reason ~ Ayn Rand

"If I were to speak your kind of language, 

I would say that man’s only moral commandment is: 

Thou shalt think. 

But a “moral commandment” is a contradiction in terms. 

The moral is the chosen, not the forced; 

the understood, not the obeyed. 

The moral is the rational, and reason accepts no commandments."

~Ayn Rand

"My morality, the morality of reason, is contained in a single axiom: existence exists—and in a single choice: to live. The rest proceeds from these. To live, man must hold three things as the supreme and ruling values of his life: Reason—Purpose—Self-esteem. Reason, as his only tool of knowledge—Purpose, as his choice of the happiness which that tool must proceed to achieve—Self-esteem, as his inviolate certainty that his mind is competent to think and his person is worthy of happiness, which means: is worthy of living. These three values imply and require all of man’s virtues, and all his virtues pertain to the relation of existence and consciousness: rationality, independence, integrity, honesty, justice, productiveness, pride..."

~Ayn Rand Lexicon

Man's First Duty is To Himself... His Moral Law is...

"The first right on earth is the right of the ego. Man’s first duty is to himself. His moral law is never to place his prime goal within the persons of others. His moral obligation is to do what he wishes, provided his wish does not depend primarily upon other men. This includes the whole sphere of his creative faculty, his thinking, his work. But it does not include the sphere of the gangster, the altruist and the dictator.

"A man thinks and works alone. 

A man cannot rob, exploit or rule—alone. 

Robbery, exploitation and ruling presuppose victims. 

They imply dependence. 

They are the province of the second-hander."

~Ayn Rand

Rulers of men are not egoists. They create nothing. They exist entirely through the persons of others. Their goal is in their subjects, in the activity of enslaving. They are as dependent as the beggar, the social worker and the bandit. The form of dependence does not matter..."

~Ayn Rand on Selfishness