“Rights” are a moral concept—the concept that provides a logical transition from the principles guiding an individual’s actions to the principles guiding his relationship with others—the concept that preserves and protects individual morality in a social context—the link between the moral code of a man and the legal code of a society, between ethics and politics. Individual rights are the means of subordinating society to moral law."
~ Found at Ayn Rand Lexicon - Individual Rights
"Man holds these rights,
not from the collective
nor for the collective,
but against the collective -
as a barrier which
the collective cannot cross; . . .
these rights are man's protection
against all other men."
~ Ayn Rand
"Since knowledge, thinking, and rational action are properties of the individual, since the choice to exercise his rational faculty or not depends on the individual, man’s survival requires that those who think be free of the interference of those who don’t. Since men are neither omniscient nor infallible, they must be free to agree or disagree, to cooperate or to pursue their own independent course, each according to his own rational judgment. Freedom is the fundamental requirement of man’s mind."
~ Found at Ayn Rand Lexicon - Individual Rights
