Objectivism is the philosophy of the rational mind. The rational mind is not a mind that must serve its philosophy; rather, the rational mind chooses the philosophy that serves it.

The rational man does not predicate the enjoyment of his life nor the achievements which make it possible on his resignation from his mind, his understanding or his willingness to think. The joy of the rational man is not established on the enshrinement of the incomprehensible.

The rational man is not the man who treats his emotions as causeless primaries equivalent or superior to the knowledge he has acquired of reality. He is not an automaton whose actions and direction in life are the result of inputs from a "higher will," a robot capable of nothing but evil if left on his own, whose status as a moral being is irrelevant to his choices and actions.

The rational man is the man who recognizes that his love is not subject to commands, just as his knowledge is not the product of wishing or fear of punishment. He is the man who recognizes that the objects he values cannot be chosen by the minds of others, that 'value' is not the result of divine fiat, that 'virtue' does not consist of obedience to threats.

The rational man is not the man who attempts to compel others to accept his claims or obey his wishes by the threat of force, and then to tell them not to resist evil. He is not the man who when he is robbed of his coat will offer out his shirt as well. The rational man is not the man who accepts the compulsions of others as a lien on his values, that when he is asked to go a mile, that he should obey and go two - that when he is asked to spare a dime, that he is obliged to give his life.

The rational man does not pursue the unearned, neither in values, nor in guilt. He is not the man who accepts the primitive notion that he is guilty by virtue of his existence, that his life must be spent throughout in a struggle between his mind, which is of another world, and his body, which is corrupt and despicable, a struggle whose goal is the pursuit of unearned absolution from that unearned guilt. He is not the man who wars against reality by claiming knowledge of a super-reality beyond his comprehension, by claiming knowledge, not of the unknown, but of the unknowable.

The rational man is not the man who believes that he must apologize for his ability, for his judgment or for his achievements, for to do so would contradict his self-esteem and all the virtues that make it possible. The rational man is not the man who fears the judgment of others, or ever fails to pass his judgment on others. The rational man is not the man who expects a reward by virtue of his fallibility or disability. He does not hold the tragedies of his life, whether they are caused by his own volition or by the metaphysically given, as a mortgage on the ability of others to think and produce.

The rational man is not the man who accepts the lie that he must live a life of suffering and anguish which will earn him freedom from sorrow in the next life. For the rational man, there is no next life: This is it. And it is this rational man who is prepared to make his life a shining accomplishment. The rational man is neither reluctant to put forth his effort to achieve the values and goals he's chosen, nor does he fear the joy of contemplating that achievement when it is complete. He is not the man who tires of the use of his mind, nor does he seek refuge from his own effort.

The rational man is not the man who claims that the content of his mind is a bestowal from beyond the universe, whose verdicts cannot be judged by an appeal to the facts of reality, whose means of knowledge is "just believe." The rational man is not the man who waves his incompetence as a flag, as if it were a symbol of virtue or a testament to his benevolence. The rational man is not the man who finds his joy by invalidating his mind or by validating that which negates the efficacy of his own reasoning.

The rational man is not the man who finds meaning in negating himself or in the sacrifice of his values, either to others or to the products of imagination. The rational man is not the man who regards values as a causeless given which he must distribute in order to appease the whims of Society or supernatural poltergeists.

The rational man… is the man who thinks for himself.

He shall never surrender.