"Every man is free to rise as far as he's able or willing, but the degree to which he thinks determines the degree to which he'll rise." -Ayn Rand
Unfortunately, this isn't exactly true. There are numerous other factors involved in success, not all of them within the direct control or contained within the personality and personal attributes of an individual. In a perfect world, in ideal conditions, this would be more true, although still not 100%.
Like a lot of other things that Ayn Rand wrote, this is simply refusing to admit no one rises without a great deal of assistance from somewhere, often times from people who are exploited. Frankly, her writing was so bad and her philosophy so empty (no one skewered it more thoroughly than William F. Buckley in The Jeweler's Eye) that I am stunned anytime someone quotes her.
I've not read the Jeweler's Eye, but my personal experience has been that I've not found anyone criticize her who actually understood what her philosophy was. For example, a common criticism is that she's against taking care of the less fortunate. But, many of the heroes in her stories are always trying to help others. That is, until they give up in frustration because government (which has been bought by their competitors) keeps interfering.
My criticism of her is twofold. First and foremost, her philosophy is not a philosophy at all, but simply unvarnished materialism. She recognized no spiritual or ethical element at all. What's more, our own experience in the past quarter century, from the time the Soviet sphere collapsed and the capital class felt they were no longer obliged to keep the middle class as a bulwark against revolution, we have seen this materialism in action - no tax is low enough, no profit is high enough. My second criticism is that she assumes that any advantages of birth - whether economic, physical or in cognitive ability - are and should be permanent. No value is given to the individual human dignity of the person born with a severe developmental disability. But if the current supports we have in this country through governmental intervention did not exist, who would care for them? Where would they live? What kind of work would they do (since employing a person with, say, a severe intellectual disability, is not going to boost profits)? And, as a matter of fact, many of the socialist-leaning governments she excoriated do a much better job of that than we do. On top of everything else, she was a genuinely poor fiction writer. The ending to Atlas Shrugged was one of the most ridiculous contrivances I ever read.
I like to think that the following quote is better; "My idea of a joke is a four-inch dick on a two-inch lieutenant."- Tobias Wolffe
In life, I do the best I can, but I also have to be realistic. I think that balance is something everyone needs.
Ayn Rand ain't great, but she sure as hell isn't the worse either (Karl Marx too, albeit at least he wasn't a Keynesian). It is a good quote on its own, and would be very true if there was no government (which is ironic since Ayn Rand is a minarchist hypocrite and despised anyone that didn't support her corporate vision of a government).
Every time Ayn Rand is mentioned, I remember a quote by Lisa Simpson. As far as your quote is concerned, like a lot of Rand's philosophy, it's unaware of the realities of life for a lot of severely disadvantaged people. However, provided that you are not very poor, sick, disabled, all alone in the world, living in a dictatorship etc, then yes, her quote applies in principle and ultimately, even in the worst circumstanes, striving for better and never losing hope can help us achieve more in our lives. Unfortunately, the kind of outlook Rand had is similar to people who in this day and age claim that every person's individual responsibility is to clothe and feed themselves. Ignorant and privileged bs. I lived in many different places, and the best, without contest, were those that governed themselves by "from each according to his ability, to each according to his need". If you think about it, the current worldwide economic breakdown, which is in turn responsible for so much suffering, could have been completely avoided if we adhered to this one simple ethical guideline.
hm...I wonder if you would have responded differently had I not stated the author. But I stopped paying attention when you made it personal. Not nice, is it? Without factoring biased or negative opinions of her work into this, I still feel this is a strong quote. "Every man is free to rise as far as he's able or willing, but the degree to which he thinks determines the degree to which he'll rise." I read this means that every man, when being truthful about his limitations and abilities, has the power to push himself beyond his comfort level to see what he is truly capable of achieving, and the reason to determine whether or not he wants to. Just the quote, not her worlds.
No, I would not have reacted differently had I not known the source. The thought, though nice, is not true. I have seen far too many instances in which people are NOT free to rise based solely on their abilities. It would be wonderful if it were true. Mentioning that it was Ayn Rand simply provided a larger target for critique.
