"An efficiently selfish person is sensitive to the needs and desires of others. But he doesn't consider those desires to be demands upon him. Rather, he sees them as opportunities — potential exchanges that might be beneficial to him."

“It's easy to believe that you came into the world with a prearranged program you must follow. After all, long before you arrived, other people figured out how you should live, what laws you should obey, what your obligations are, the whole structure for a 'proper' life… Are you willing to give up the one life you have in order to conform to the way others think you should live?”

“Security comes from your ability to deal with the world, not from a guarantee by someone else. When you know you're capable of dealing with whatever comes, you have the only security the world has to offer.”

“The gigantic myth called 'society' that rules so many lives doesn't even exist. 'Society' is merely a collection of different people, tastes, and judgements. It can't enforce its rules upon you. You don't have to uphold causes you don't believe in, go to cocktail parties that bore you, dress and act as you've been told to.”

“I've concentrated upon the things I control, and used that control to remove the restrictions and complications from my life.”

“Republicans campaign like Libertarians and govern like Democrats.”

“Conservatives are very upset at the idea of a single-mom family. But they do their best to create a lot of them by sending American men off to war to be killed.”