[Lurker]

That little snip is from a section of Rands "Atlas Shrugged" known as 'Francisco's Money Speech'.

Like most Rand works it runs long.

The entire 'speech', which the character Francisco gives to a couple of old biddies at a dinner party after he hears them say 'money is the root of all evil' can be found here.

Reading the entire book is worth it just to get to that part IMO.

If it's true you've never read Rand then I recommend strongly that you do. Yea, the settings are a bit dated but the concepts ring dead true because they are.

She also wrote quite a bit of non-fiction. IMO one of her best is "Capitalism, the Unknown Ideal."

It is indeed great stuff.

there should be a radio and a TV station both devoted 24 hours a day to broadcasting readings of her work.

One of her associates, Leonard Piekoff, had a radio show a few years back I think. There were some recordings of it posted on the 'net but I don't remember where.

L

[Sir Francis Dashwood]

She also wrote quite a bit of non-fiction. IMO one of her best is "Capitalism, the Unknown Ideal."

The Ayn Rand Lexicon, edited by Harry Binswanger is a must have.

She had some insightful stuff, but her myopic hostility to the religionists was a fatal flaw of her philosophy.

Rand got most of her philosophical egotism directly from John Locke and Thomas Hobbes before him.

[NittanyLion]

"When you see that trading is done, not by consent, but by compulsion--when you see that in order to produce, you need to obtain permission from men who produce nothing--when you see that money is flowing to those who deal, not in goods, but in favors--when you see that men get richer by graft and by pull than by work, and your laws don't protect you against them, but protect them against you--when you see corruption being rewarded and honesty becoming a self-sacrifice--you may know that your society is doomed."

That should be compulsory reading. I've read most of Rand's works, but that single passage really brought things into focus for me.