Quote #171

There is no escape from the fact that men have to make choices; so long as men have to make choices, there is no escape from moral values; so long as moral values are at stake, no moral neutrality is possible. To abstain from condemning a torturer, is to become an accessory to the torture and murder of his victims.

More from Ayn Rand

  1. There can be no such thing, in law or in morality, as actions forbidden to an individual, but permitted to a mob.
  2. There's no way to rule innocent men. The only power government has is the power to crack down on criminals. When there aren't enough crimin…
  3. There can be no such thing as a political crime under the American system of law. Since an individual has the right to hold and to propagat…
  4. They proclaim that every man is entitled to exist without labor and, the laws of reality to the contrary notwithstanding, is entitled to re…
  5. There are two sides to every issue: one side is right and the other is wrong, but the middle is always evil.
  6. Thinking men cannot be ruled.
  7. There are four characteristics which brand a country unmistakably as a dictatorship: one-party rule- executions without trial or with a moc…
  8. Thought does not bow to authority.

All Ayn Rand quotes