Writer Ayn Rand was born in Russia on Feb. 2, 1905. She fell in love with words at an early age, and taught herself to read at the age of six, according to the Ayn Rand Lexicon, and she initially loved reading a fictional story for children that she found in a French magazine.
When she was nine, she decided that she would become a fiction writer. However, her schooling was interrupted when the Bolshevik Revolution broke out, and her family moved to Crimea. During this time, her father’s pharmacy was confiscated by the Communist party, and her family struggled to make ends meet, faced with starvation.
After she learned about America in her history class, she decided that the U.S. was a model of what a free country could be, and she carried that thought with her as she returned from Crimea and attended the University of Petrograd, where she studied philosophy and history.
Rand graduated in 1924, when she decided to attend the State Institute for Cinema Arts, where she studied screenwriting. Then, in 1925, she received permission to leave Soviet Russia to head to the U.S., where she claimed she would be visiting relatives for a short time. However, she had no intention of returning to Russia, and when she arrived in New York City in February 1926, she headed to Chicago for a quick six-month stay with family before moving to Hollywood to become a screenwriter.
It only took Rand two days to connect with Cecil B. DeMille, who offered the writer a job as an extra, and then later as a script reader. Two weeks later, she met her future husband, actor Frank O’Connor, whom she married in 1929. Rand worked in Hollywood for several years before selling her first screenplay, “Red Pawn.”
Rand later sold her first book, We the Living, which was published in 1936, and considered her most autobiographical work. After that, she began working on The Fountainhead, which was published in 1943, and became a best seller two years later. She later wrote Atlas Shrugged, which turned out to be her last fictional work. After that, she mainly focused on writing and lecturing about her own philosophy: Objectivism.
The beloved writer died in New York City on Mar. 6, 1982, having been preceded in death by O’Connor.
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Quote of the Day by Ayn Rand
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“But money is only a tool. It will take you wherever you wish, but it will not replace you as the driver.”
This quote is from Rand’s 1957 book Atlas Shrugged, and it comes from a speech that was made by Francisco d’Anconia. While the book is a work of fiction, it’s considered largely philosophical, like many of Rand’s other fictional works.
Deeper Meaning of Ayn Rand’s Quote—‘Money is Only a Tool’
Rand’s quote from Atlas Shrugged is better understood when you realize that it is part of a much larger speech delivered by d’Anconia, heir to a massive fortune. He delivers the speech at a party, after hearing another guest claim that money is “the root of all evil,” according to the Atlas Society.
He makes the statement to explain that money isn’t inherently good or evil; it’s a tool that can be used for other purposes. It can be used for good—such as by those who use it to produce goods and services—or for evil.
Additionally, the fuller quote explains that many people hate money because they don’t believe they deserve it, which is why so many see it as a bad thing. Meanwhile, those who value money for the right reasons and are willing to work for it (and be the driver) can see just how good money can be.
More Quotes from Ayn Rand
- “If you don’t know, the thing to do is not to get scared, but to learn.”
- “I could die for you. But I couldn’t, and wouldn’t, live for you.”
- “Contradictions do not exist. Whenever you think that you are facing a contradiction, check your premises. You will find that one of them is wrong.”
- “The man who does not value himself, cannot value anything or anyone.”
- “A creative man is motivated by the desire to achieve, not by the desire to beat others.”
- “The smallest minority on earth is the individual. Those who deny individual rights cannot claim to be defenders of minorities.”
Sources:
- Ayn Rand Lexicon
- Atlas Society
Related: Quote of the Day: Actor John Wayne on ‘Courage’ and ‘Saddling up Anyway’