Ayn Rand Quotes

Capitalism is based on individual rights - not on the sacrifice of the individual to the 'public good' of the collective.

Capitalism is the only economic system compatible with free individuals

The system of private property is the most important guaranty of freedom, not only for those who own property, but scarcely less for those who do not.

Laissez-faire capitalism is the only social system based on the recognition of individual rights and, therefore, the only system that bans force from social relationships.

The system of capitalism, of the market economy, is a system of freedom, of justice, of productivity. But these three virtues cannot be separated. Each flows out of the other.

Any capitalism is superior to feudalism.

The market economy is the social system of the division of labor under private ownership of the means of production. Everybody acts on his own behalf; but everybodys actions aim at the satisfaction of other peoples needs as well as at the satisfaction of his own. Everybody in acting serves his fellow citizens.

The European model is, first, a social and economic system founded on the role of the market, for no computer in the world can process information better than the market.

Private ownership of property is vital to both our freedom and our prosperity.

I do believe in the free market.

Dull would be the man who should merely tolerate this plan of social industry. Weak would be the position of him who should take an apologetic tone in defending it, or present its claims in a merely negative way, by exposing the evils and perils of the socialistic plan.

There has been no country with a democratic political sphere, past or present, whose economy has not been dominated by private ownership and market coordination.

The program of liberalism, therefore, if condensed into a single word, would have to read: property, that is, private ownership of the means of production... All the other demands of liberalism result from his fundamental demand.

Free market never succeeded without free men and free society.

If someone builds a fortune, it belongs to him, not the government. An entitled government undermines liberty.

With free market and free man, if you remove one of them, it is not called capitalism in my dictionary.

It's no accident that capitalism has brought with it progress, not merely in production but also in knowledge. Egoism and competition are, alas, stronger forces than public spirit and sense of duty.

This capitalist society has not lasted forever; it's only a few hundred years old.

Capitalism or market economy is that system of social cooperation and division of labor that is based on private ownership of the means of production.

Capitalism is a system in which the central institutions of society are, in principle, under autocratic control. Thus, a corporation or an industry is, if we were to think of it in political terms, fascist, that is, it has tight control at the top and strict obedience has to be established at every level. [...] Just as I'm opposed to political fascism, I am opposed to economic fascism. I think that until the major institutions of society are under the popular control of participants and communities, it's pointless to talk about democracy.

The program of liberalism if condensed into a single word, would have to read: property, that is, private ownership of the means of production.

We stand for the maintenance of private property... We shall protect free enterprise as the most expedient, or rather the sole possible economic order.

Let’s begin with capitalism, a word that has gone largely out of fashion. The approved reference now is to the market system. This shift minimizes - indeed, deletes - the role of wealth in the economic and social system. And it sheds the adverse connotation going back to Marx. Instead of the owners of capital or their attendants in control, we have the admirably impersonal role of market forces. It would be hard to think of a change in terminology more in the interest of those to whom money accords power. They have now a functional anonymity.

Capitalism is not the system of the past; it is the system of the future -- if mankind is to have a future

Capitalism encourages entrepreneurs to act with consideration for others even when their ultimate motive is to benefit themselves.