Don't even have to ponder. I discovered this author as a young man via an inscription inside a what would be for me a literally life-changing RUSH album, 2112. "Dedicated to the genius of Ayn Rand." Who the fuck is Ayn Rand I asked myself? Went to the library, got "Anthem" and over a year read all her novels and much of her nonfiction. This particular quote so inspired me and at a time I really needed clarity. It still does and I've tried my best to live such inspiration.
“In the name of the best within you, do not sacrifice this world to those who are at its worst. In the name of the values that keep you alive, do not let your vision of people be distorted by the ugly, the cowardly, the mindless in those who have never achieved integrity. Do not lose your knowledge that our proper estate is an upright posture, an intransigent mind and a step that travels unlimited roads.
Do not let your fire go out, spark by irreplaceable spark, in the hopeless swamps of the approximate, the not-quite, the not-yet, the not-at-all. Do not let the hero in your soul perish, in lonely frustration for the life you deserved, but have never been able to reach. Check your road and the nature of your battle. The world you desired can be won, it exists, it is real, it's yours.”
