Leonard Peikoff Quotes

“An individual can be hurt in countless ways by other men's irrationality, dishonesty, injustice. Above all, he can be disappointed, perhaps grievously, by the vices of a person he had once trusted or loved. But as long as his property is not expropriated and he remains unmolested physically, the damage he sustains is essentially spiritual, not physical; in such a case, the victim alone has the power and the responsibility of healing his wounds. He remains free: free to think, to learn from his experiences, to look elsewhere for human relationships; he remains free to start afresh and to pursue his happiness.”

— Leonard Peikoff

“Every argument for God and every attribute ascribed to Him rests on a false metaphysical premise. None can survive for a moment on a correct metaphysics ...
Existence exists, and only existence exists. Existence is a primary: it is uncreated, indestructible, eternal. So if you are to postulate something beyond existence-some supernatural realm-you must do it by openly denying reason, dispensing with definitions, proofs, arguments, and saying flatly, "To Hell with argument, I have faith." That, of course, is a willful rejection of reason.
Objectivism advocates reason as man's sole means of knowledge, and therefore, for the reasons I have already given, it is atheist. It denies any supernatural dimension presented as a contradiction of nature, of existence. This applies not only to God, but also to every variant of the supernatural ever advocated or to be advocated. In other words, we accept reality, and that's all.”

— Leonard Peikoff

“To save the world is the
simplest thing in the world.
All one has to do is think.”

— Leonard Peikoff

“The worse the coming future, the more it should motivate its opponents.”

— Leonard Peikoff

“Principles make it simple.”

— Leonard Peikoff

“Statism and the advocacy of reason are philosophical opposites. They cannot coexist-neither in a philosophic system nor in a nation.”

— Leonard Peikoff

“The man who waits for reality to write the truth inside his soul waits in vain.”

— Leonard Peikoff

“The deepest roots of this modern shift are twofold: in epistemology, the romanticist advocacy of feeling as superior to reason; in ethics, the altruist advocacy of others as superior to self. The result is a view of morality in which the ruling standard is: the feelings of others.”

— Leonard Peikoff

“When you get up in front of a group of people, you make a contract with them; you promise them, "I am going to deliver value X." Every once in a while, you have to say, "See, I remember; I am keeping my promise.”

— Leonard Peikoff

“The artist is the closest man comes to being God.”

— Leonard Peikoff

“Each man must reach his own verdict, by weighing all the relevant evidence.”

— Leonard Peikoff

“The unphilosophical majority among men are the ones most helplessly dependent on their era's dominant ideas.”

— Leonard Peikoff

“The more you learn, if you learn it properly, the more clear you become and the more you know.”

— Leonard Peikoff

“Now if you ask me, in conclusion, "Well, what, then should properly be done?" Obviously war, but I mean in regard to this issue I would say: Any way possible permission should be refused and if they go ahead and build it, the government should bomb it out of existence, evacuating it first, with no compensation to any of the property owners involved in this monstrosity.”

— Leonard Peikoff

Ayn Rand held that art is a 're-creation of reality according to an artist's metaphysical value-judgements.' By its nature, therefore, a novel (like a statue or a symphony) does not require or tolerate an explanatory preface; it is a self-contained universe, aloof from commentary, beckoning the reader to enter, perceive, respond.

— Leonard Peikoff

“What one needs to know in order to appraise a man morally is not: what did his mother say or do when he was three? The proper question is: what does he say and do now?”

— Leonard Peikoff

“To send a child to rot in the prison of Cuba for the alleged sake of his own well-being is criminal hypocrisy.”

— Leonard Peikoff

“Unlike the Marxists, the Nazis did not advocate public ownership of the means of production. They did demand that the government oversee and run the nation's economy. The issue of legal ownership is secondary; what counts is the issue of control. Private citizens, therefore, may continue to hold titles to property-so long as the state res ... erves to itself the unqualified right to regulate the use of their property.”

— Leonard Peikoff

“Now, the United States' response, the western response to this is a continuation of the appeasement that was started back in the '50s with Eisenhower when Iran seized western oil companies. The Americans, the British, and the Israelis, as I remember, launched an attack to try to reclaim it and - or at least the British and the Israelis did and Eisenhower vetoed it.”

— Leonard Peikoff