Howard Roark on work

But you see, I have, let's say, sixty years to live. Most of that time will be spent working. I've chosen the work I want to do. If I find no joy in it, then I'm only condemning myself to sixty years of torture. And I can find the joy only if I do my work in the best way possible to me. But the best is a matter of standards--and I set my own standards. I inherit nothing. I stand at the end of no tradition. I may, perhaps, stand at the beginning of one."

The John Galt speech

the Galt speech from Atlas Shrugged

Ayn Rand

my conscience, my inspiration, my GOD, if you will~~~Ayn Rand

Amar's Top 10 Wisdom Picks!

This morning, I thought of choosing 10 thoughts to live by. I have done a lot of reading and some thinking by myself as well by now. I have read thoughts and ruminations of some of the best minds of the world and been through personal learning experiences. Here are my top 10 thoughts to live by:-

1. That I am alive today is a gift, a minimum reason to smile.
2. Whatever happens, happens for good. The dots will somehow connect in the future. Believe in yourself.
3. Never bow your head, always hold it high, look the world in the eye.
4. Only dead fish flow with the flow
5. A ship is safe at the harbor but that's not what ships are built for. The purpose of life is purposeful motion.
6. Do what you love. Your dreams are your real job.
7. The mirror question: If today were my last day on earth, would I want to do what I am about to do today?
8. Reading is to mind what running is to body. Never miss either.
9. What we think, or what we know, or what we believe is, in the end, of little consequence. The only consequence is what we do.
10. Failure is giving up. Never give up. Never never never give up.


**subject to revision

The best of Atlas Shrugged!

Atlas Shrugged is the best book I have read. I am making a note of some of the best sections from the book. Snippets from Atlas shrugged:-

"Francisco, what's the most depraved type of human being?"
"The man without a purpose." "Dagny, there is nothing of any importance in life-except how well you do your work. It is the only measure of human value."

"We have done it, haven't we?" he said. (Hank Rearden)
In payment for every effort, for every sleepless night, for every silent thrust against despair, this moment was all she wanted. "Yes, we have."

"He vanished without a trace into the great unknowns of mediocrity."

"The hours ahead, like all her nights with him, would be added, she thought, to the savings account of one's life where moments of time are stored in the pride of having been lived. The only pride of her workday was not that it had been lived, but that it had been survived. It was wrong, viciously wrong that one should ever be forced to say that about any hour of one's life."


"A man's sexual choice is the result and sum of his fundamental convictions. Tell me what a man finds sexually attractive and I will tell you his entire philosophy of life. Show me the woman he sleeps with and I will tell you his valuation of himself.-Francisco D'anconia

"There is no way to disarm any man, except through guilt. The man who lives up to his own standards. Save us from the man of clean conscience. He is the man who will beat us." - Dr. Ferris

"No matter what you feel for him, it will not change what you feel for me, and it won't be treason to either, because it comes from the same root, it's the same payment in answer to the same values" (LOVE, Francisco)

"Nobody stays here by faking reality in any manner whatsoever." (John Galt says 'No' when Francisco proposes that she spend her last week with him)

"We are those who do not disconnect the values of their minds from the actions of their bodies"

A LIE

People think that a liar gains victory over his victim. What I have learnt is that a lie is an act of self-abdication because one surrenders one's reality to whom one lies making that person one's master condemning oneself from then to faking the sort of reality that person's view requires to be faked."- Hank Rearden

DAGNY AND CHERYL

"Dagny, how did you do it? How did you manage to remain unmangled?"
"By holding to just one rule"
"Which"
"To place nothing-nothing-above the verdict of my own mind"

GOD

"The good, say the mystics of spirit, is God, a being whose only definition is that he is beyond man's power to conceive- a definition that invalidates man's consciousness and nullifies his concept of existence."

"The word that has destroyed you is 'sacrifice.' Use the last of your strength to understand its meaning. You are still alive. You still have a chance."

"Men can't exist your way! You permit no moments of weakness, you don't allow for human frailties or human feelings!" Dr Stadler to John Galt

"To live, man must hold three things as the supreme and the ruling values of his life: Reason-Purpose-Self Esteem

"The purpose of morality is to teach you, not to suffer and die, but to enjoy yourself and live. The achievement of your own happiness is the highest moral purpose."

"Dagny, it's not that I don't suffer, it's that I know the unimportance of suffering. I know that pain is to be fought and thrown aside, not to be accepted as part of one's soul and as a permanent scar across one's view of existence. Don't feel sorry for me."

THE OATH

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.

Live with your head lifted high or Perish!

sar utha ke jee ae amar
sar utha ke jee
jo agar pade tuje sar ko jhukana
kat dena
nazar neeche na girana

sar utha ke jee ae amar

thoughts of the day from Atlas Shrugged

The hours ahead, like all her nights with him, would be added, she thought, to the savings account of one's life where moments of time are stored in the pride of having been lived.

The only pride of her workday was not that it had been lived but that it had been survived. It was wrong, she thought, it was viciously wrong that one should ever be forced to say that about any hour of one's life.

Man's life was purposeful motion. Motion and Purpose.

Ayn Rand

Howard Roark!

Keller to Roark from the Fountainhead:

"Roark, it's just a building. It's not the combination of divine ecstacy, holy sacrament (something regarded as possessing a sacred character or mysterious significance) and sexual pleasure that you make it!!!"

Roark- "is it not?"


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Another situation in the book where Gail Wynand is about to lose everything he owns, everything he has made in his life, in his fight to defend Howard Roark and he comes to him and asks:-

Roark, "do you want me to give in?"

and Roark says, "I want you to hold out even if it costs you everything you own"

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Howard Roark is the epitome of character of the selfish obstinacy to live your life on your terms. Bravo.

The Fountainhead!

Yes, I have finished the fountainhead. one of the most powerful books I have read.

Here isthe gist of the book, in own words of the author:

"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

Howard Roark

The story of the fountainhead is the story of Howard Roark' triumph. His victory. Victory over a society which adjudges altruism as a virtue and selfishness as a vice.

Howard Roark is a selfish man. Neither defiant nor militant about his own selfishness. He treats as as simple as the right to eat or breathe.

He is the hero and he is what a man should be, I agree with the message of the fountainhead.

The only thing that Howard Roark wanted all his life, is

"my work done, my way" regardless of the fact that he had to work in a quarry after having said no to projects beceause they did not meet his standards. He decides the standards of his work and he decides what is right irrespective of the rest of the world criticising him that his work is trivial and must be condemned. He does not think of his critics like Ellsworth Toohey. I loved the scene when Toohey approached him and asks him-

so tell me what you think of me?

and he says," but I don't think of you"

The power of the fountainhead is the power in the character of Howard Roard who stands alone, who disaagrees and selfishly, oblivious to the world, follows his convictions.

At his own terms. Because he won't work at any one else's. The book is not about architecture. It is used just as a means to convey the message.

cheers to fountainhead. cheers to Howard Roark. Cheers to life Roark style.

I must admit, I am not living life to the full. I am not doing everything I want to do my way. My life is being determined by people I work for.

I am not even close to Howard Roark although I have had people tell me so. I am not close.

But I will be. The time is close when the last straw will fall and all pretense will be over.

when work will be the mixture of Holy sacrament and sexual pleasure, like Howard Roark admits it is. Words will be straight. Like what Dominique says when she reaches Roark's office, exactly what she wants in categorical, non-nonsense language.

the epitome of life, Howard Roark and Dominique Francon

cheers to the fountainhead!

things I could do for free.....

you know, i am reading "the fountainhead" and the main protagonist is called Howard Roark. I adore him, respect him and learning a hell lot from him.

there is only one way to live life- by doing what you want to do. Howard just said, " if we want to eliminate the pain the pain of this world, why not start with Steven Mallory by helping him do what he wants to do."

I am making a list now. List of things that I love to do, adore to do and would do anytime, anyday without caring how much I get paid or if I get paid, like Howard Roark!!!!!! Someone tells him once- but u gotta live?!!! and he replies, "not like this." after having said NO to a major architectural commission because it did not match his standards of work. I will write an entire post on Howard Roark by the time I am done finishing the book. He will have changed somthing in me, he already is.

things I am passionate about:

great people, people who think, before they act and give meaning to life

Public Speaking

Leadership- in any form

Writing

Travelling

Thinking

business- turning passion into profit

*to be updated.

Life is either a daring adventure, or nothing! go for it.