Atlas Shrugged, Part 1 Chapter 1: The Theme
Summary: “Who is John Galt?” On September 2nd, Eddie Willers (age 32) contemplates the great oak tree. James Taggart (age 39) sought to avoid the issue of degrading rail conditions, and the wreck on their Rio Norte Line, and Orren Boyle’s (Associated Steel) backlog. They recently lost Colorado oilman Ellis Wyatt (age 33) as a customer, but rather than find another way to address the Rio Norte Line, James wants to focus on the San Sebastián Line. While traveling on the Comet, Dagny Taggart ponders Richard Halley’s music, and promoting Owen Kellogg. She warns James that the Mexican government is going to nationalize the mines and rail line, and that she ordered Rearden Metal for the Rio Norte Line. Kellogg resigned. “Who is John Galt?”
Start by reading the first-tier comments, which are all quotes of Ayn Rand (some of my favorites, some just important for other reasons). Comment on your favorite ones, or others' comments. Don't see your favorite quote? Post it in a new comment. Please reserve new comments for Ayn Rand, and your non-Rand quotes for "replies" to the quotes or discussion. (Otherwise Rand's quotes will get crowded out and pushed down into oblivion. You can help avoid this by "voting up" the Rand quotes, or at least the ones you think people should see, and voting down first-tier comments that are not quotes of the featured book.)
Atlas Shrugged was written by Ayn Rand in 1957.
My idea for this post is discussed here:
http://www.galtsgulchonline.com/posts...
Start by reading the first-tier comments, which are all quotes of Ayn Rand (some of my favorites, some just important for other reasons). Comment on your favorite ones, or others' comments. Don't see your favorite quote? Post it in a new comment. Please reserve new comments for Ayn Rand, and your non-Rand quotes for "replies" to the quotes or discussion. (Otherwise Rand's quotes will get crowded out and pushed down into oblivion. You can help avoid this by "voting up" the Rand quotes, or at least the ones you think people should see, and voting down first-tier comments that are not quotes of the featured book.)
Atlas Shrugged was written by Ayn Rand in 1957.
My idea for this post is discussed here:
http://www.galtsgulchonline.com/posts...
“That’s the trouble with you. You always make it ‘Yes’ or ‘No.’ Things are never absolute like that. Nothing is absolute.”
He said defensively, “I Don’t see why you’re so eager to give a chance to Ellis Wyatt, yet you think it’s wrong to take part in developing an underprivileged country that never had a chance.”
“Ellis Wyatt is not asking anybody to give him a chance. And I’m not in the business to give chances. I’m running a railroad.”
“That’s an extremely narrow view, it seems to me. I don’t see why we should want to help one man instead of a whole nation.”
“I’m not interested in helping anybody. I want to make money.”
“That’s an impractical attitude. Selfish greed for profit is a thing of the past. It has been generally conceded that the interests of society as a whole must always be placed first in any business under-taking which – ”
“How long do you intend to talk in order to evade the issue, Jim?”
"Ellis Wyatt is a greedy bastard who’s after nothing but money," said James Taggart. "It seems to me that there are more important things in life than making money…. Yes, I know, I know, he’s making money. But that is not the standard, it seems to me, by which one gauges a man’s value to society. And as for his oil, he’d come crawling to us, and he’d wait his turn along with all the other shippers, and he wouldn’t demand more than his fair share of transportation – if it weren’t for the Phoenix-Durango. We can’t help it if we’re up against destructive competition of that kind. Nobody can blame us."
He said, "The minister said last Sunday that we must always reach for the best within us. What do you suppose is the best within us?"
“One night, lightning struck the oak tree. Eddie saw it the next morning. It lay broken in half, and he looked into its trunk as into the mouth of a black tunnel. The trunk was only an empty shell; its heart had rotted away long ago; there was nothing inside – just a thin gray dust that was being dispersed by the whim of the faintest wind. The living power had gone, and the shape it left had not been able to stand without it.”