Quotations, with their place
A short list on purpose. Rand is one of the most misquoted writers on the internet, so we include only lines whose wording and location in the book are well attested.
“Who is John Galt?”
Atlas Shrugged (1957), Part One, Chapter I (the novel's opening line).
A catchphrase of despair throughout the book, until its answer is given.
“Howard Roark laughed.”
The Fountainhead (1943), Part One, Chapter 1 (the novel's opening line).
“That's not the point. The point is, who will stop me?”
Howard Roark, to the Dean, The Fountainhead (1943), Part One, Chapter 1.
The source of the widely shared misquotation "The question isn't who is going to let me; it's who is going to stop me." Rand did not write that sentence.
“I swear by my life and my love of it that I will never live for the sake of another man, nor ask another man to live for mine.”
John Galt, Atlas Shrugged (1957), Part Three (the oath of the strikers, repeated in Galt's speech).
“I am. I think. I will.”
Equality 7-2521, Anthem (1938), Chapter XI.
“Money is the barometer of a society's virtue.”
Francisco d'Anconia, Atlas Shrugged (1957), Part Two, Chapter II (Francisco's money speech).
“My philosophy, in essence, is the concept of man as a heroic being, with his own happiness as the moral purpose of his life, with productive achievement as his noblest activity, and reason as his only absolute.”
Ayn Rand, Atlas Shrugged (1957), Afterword, "About the Author".