I am not the means to any end others may wish to accomplish. I am not a tool for their use. I am not a servant of their needs. I am not a bandage for… - Ayn Rand

By the same principle, the government may not give special leniency to the perpetrator of a crime, on the grounds of the nature of his ideas.

I need no warrant for being, and no word of sanction upon my being. I am the warrant and the sanction.

Not selfishness, but precisely the absence of a self. Look at them. The man who cheats and lies, but preserves a respectable front. He knows himself to be dishonest, but others think he’s honest and he derives his self-respect from that, second-hand. The man who takes credit for an achievement which is not his own. He knows himself to be mediocre, but he’s great in the eyes of others.