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The second-hander

A person who lives through others' opinions rather than their own judgement.

Introduced in The Fountainhead, chiefly through Peter Keating: the second-hander's goals, values and sense of self are borrowed from other people. Roark's courtroom speech sets the creator against the second-hander.

Read it in Rand’s words

The Fountainhead (Roark's courtroom speech)

Essays