[Publius]

The rations of coal, established by Wesley Mouch, permitted the heating of homes for three hours a day. There was no wood to burn, no metal to make new stoves, no tools to pierce the walls of the houses for new installations. In makeshift contraptions of bricks and oil cans, professors were burning the books of their libraries, and fruit-growers were burning the trees of their orchards. "Privations strengthen a people's spirit," wrote Bertram Scudder, "and forge the fine steel of social discipline. Sacrifice is the cement which unites human bricks into the great edifice of society."

Ayn Rand, Atlas Shrugged, Part II ("Either-Or"), Chapter V ("Account Overdrawn"), page 498.

[Jeff Chandler]

"Privations strengthen a people's spirit," wrote Bertram Scudder, "and forge the fine steel of social discipline. Sacrifice is the cement which unites human bricks into the great edifice of society."
-Ayn Rand, Atlas Shrugged,

All in all, you're just another brick in the wall.

[nwrep]

Content and philosophy aside, I marvel at the sheer literary potency of this writing:

Sacrifice is the cement which unites human bricks into the great edifice of society.

Who uses metaphors so powerfully and so evocatively today?

[rlmorel]

I hate reading Ayn Rand excerpts that closely parallel what we see today. I once read a line by Ann Coulter (I know she is persona non grata around here now, but I thought this was fitting) where she was talking about Neville Chamberlain and his policy of appeasement, and she said:

"Democrats are on the precipice of securing their reputation as the Chamberlains of our time. In fact, today's appeasers are worse than Neville Chamberlain: Chamberlain didn't have himself as an example."

One could almost (almost!) forgive Leftists both here and abroad for their embrace of socialist central planning by blaming it on naivete or ignorance, but they have a host of examples on why it doesn't work, never mind people like Ayn Rand who spelled it out for them in the format of a novel...

[MarkL]

"Privations strengthen a people's spirit," wrote Bertram Scudder,wrote Bertram Scudder, "and forge the fine steel of social discipline. Sacrifice is the cement which unites human bricks into the great edifice of society."

"You know, it's funny. Sometimes American journalists talk about how bad a country is when people are lining up for food. That's a good thing. In other countries, people don't line up for food. The rich get the food and the poor starve to death." stated Bernie Sanders, Socialist senator currently leading in the democrat primaries to run for President of the United States. Yes, Bernie, who honeymooned in the communist USSR, a perfect example of your quote would be communist North Korea

"Economists agree that unemployment benefits remain one of the best ways to grow the economy in a very immediate way." Nancy Pelosi, current democrat Speaker of the House of Representatives.

The people leading the dems are trying to run America off a cliff. Rand was precient.

Mark