The Fountainhead

by Ayn Rand

Why is truth made a mere matter of arithmetic—and only of addition at that?

You are a man not to be encouraged. You are dangerous.” “To whom?”

Do we react the same to those that we don't understand?

by the neglected problem of ventilation.

It's interesting to note that this is a grand building but only to the end of physical beauty but not logical beauty. Because why is there ventilation that's not working? It is there to look good not to mean well.

The crowd was there, thought Peter Keating, to see him graduate,

Lmao

Francon had insisted on that smock.

Keating demonstrating his inability to make his own decisions. A reflection of Peter's desire to please others.

He did not have to wonder, to fear or to take chances; it had been done for him.

An imitation at best... No need for fear or to take chances since it's already been done for him. When we take a chance on something new, do we fear it? Should we fear it?

Readers acquired erudition without study, authority without cost, judgment without effort. It was pleasant to look at buildings and criticize them with a professional manner and with the memory of page 439;

Trivia does not equate skill but maybe it does in a different extent...

Keating did not care so long as his clients were impressed, the clients did not care so long as their guests were impressed, and the guests did not care anyway.

To whom do we ascribe the beliefs of our own success? And to what extent do we posture for those that shoudn't really matter? And of that, who matters to us? Who do we genuinely grant values to?

The freedom to agree or disagree is the foundation of our kind of society—

unrolled as a velvet banner.

demanded that we plant the roots of our art firmly in the reality of our own life.

Sheer perfection in his own way.

The house on the sketches had been designed not by Roark, but by the cliff on which it stood.

damn, son

“Then you’re not sure, Howard? You aren’t?”

This statement reflects on Keating's own insecurity.

She had never done these things before; she did them expertly. She had a capacity for action, a competence that clashed incongruously with her appearance.

“Why, I didn’t know it at all.

Perhaps, this was a glimpse of Dominique's childhood. The non-existent presence of her father, always on "appointments".

He wondered whether her attitude was deliberate proof that she could ignore him more completely by seeing him often than by refusing to see him.

Think of yourself for an hour,

All his life he has never thought of himself.

The twelve faces before him had a variety of countenances, but there was something, neither color nor feature, upon all of them, as a common denominator,

The theme of the masses. A conglomerate of nothingness.

dissolved

The dissolution of the individual.

But man had come so far; he could go farther.

and it made her conscious not of the cloth, but of her knees and thighs.

objects make conscious of the human, not the other way around

it was the abstraction of strength made visible.

his glasses seemed to be worn not to protect his eyes but to protect other men from their excessive brilliance.

he was certain that it was profound, because he didn’t understand it.

One did not stress total ignorance of a subject if one were in total ignorance of it.

he glanced at a mirror, at his own figure, he wanted to join in the general admiration for it.

conceit

There’s nothing important on earth, except human beings.

do i believe this?

as if she were reciting an austere catechism of faith.

Like a prayer. As if Roark is a religion.

She learned to accept self-torture as an endurance test, urged on by the curiosity to discover how much she could endure.

well, damn

everything that proceeds from the ego is evil;

why would belief in self be considered a sin/evil?

All I mean is that a board of directors is one or two ambitious men—and a lot of ballast.

Though how in hell one passes judgment on a man without considering the content of his brain is more than I’ll ever understand.

His appearances?

Thinking is something one doesn’t borrow or pawn.

it comes in the hard earned effort sourced from within of one's own studious distinction of desires and motivations. it cannot be given, only discovered.

That’s horror.

“The principle behind the Dean,”

I’ve always had a weakness for astronomy.”

“Where I can think of nothing and feel nothing except that I designed that temple. I built it. Nothing else can seem very important.”

Only that it had existed.”

collegiate sort of gusto, swinging his shoulders and arms unnecessarily.

Hmm, interesting...

But don’t ask them to achieve self-respect. They will hate your soul.

I expect people to be grateful to me. I ... I demand gratitude.

has she always been like this? how did she become like this?

“But if you have no ... no self-respect, how can you be anything?” “Why must you be anything?”

this in correspondence to the trial earlier, about self respect as the only way to really develop as a human and to discuss about being anything at all, can one be anything if they dont appreciate themselves?

All growth demands destruction.

Coming from this person, it really isnt a good quote, in context. But taken out of context, it's brilliant.

To say ‘I love you’ one must know first how to say the ‘I.’

want to fit myself into Peter’s life just as it is.”

No change whatsoever, as if she doesnt exist.

He recognized nothing but the accuracy of his own judgment.

socialist to defend factory owners

ahh, i think this shines a light on what it means to be a socialist. It is for the people. Or at least for the common worker

She changed nothing in his existence:

Almost everybody.”