Quote 4
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.
This is the oath the thinkers recite
when they join the strike and come to live in the valley; we first
encounter this oath in Part Three, Chapter I. No one may stay until
he or she is willing to take the oath freely. Dagny first encounters
it as an inscription on the building where Galt’s motor is kept.
The words are so powerful that the sound of Galt reciting them opens
the locks of the building’s door. When Dagny sees the inscription,
she tells Galt this is already the code she lives by, but she does
not think his way is the right way to practice the code. He tells
her they will have to see which one of them is right. Later, when
it is clear that Galt’s way was right, Dagny solemnly recites the
oath to Francisco in the Taggart Terminal just before they rescue
Galt from the looters, in Part Three, Chapter IX. The striker’s
code presents Rand’s belief in egoism, or the doctrine of rational
self-interest. Rand believes that individuals have an inalienable
right to pursue their own happiness based on their own values and
that they must be free to pursue their own self-interest as they
choose. Under this code, people have no obligations to each other
beyond the obligation to respect the freedom and rights of other
self-interested people.
