Survival of all or none | Man has no automatic code of survival; he lives by volitional consciousness
One raindrop raises the sea | Ecology as a social principle condemns cities, culture, industry, technology, the intellect, and advocates men’s return to “nature,” to the state of grunting subanimals digging the soil with their bare hands.
Weapons are enemies even to their owners | A gun is not an argument.
Give more, take less | Go on strike against martyrdom, and the moral code which demands it.
Others first, self last | The absence of a self is at the root of every despicable action
Observe, listen, and learn | Fine.
Do one thing at a time | Achieve constantly; achieve without stopping.
Sing every day | Until a conceptual vocabulary is discovered and defined, no objectively valid criterion of esthetic judgment is possible in the field of music. No one, therefore, can claim the objective superiority of his choices over the choices of others. Where no objective proof is available, it’s every man for himself—and only for himself. Sing only when you please.
Exercise imagination | Imagination is not a faculty for escaping reality, but a faculty for rearranging the elements of reality to achieve human values.
Eat to live, don’t live to eat | Get yours.
[Image via @darth]
Tags: animals, ayn rand, books, dinotopia, objectivism as seen through pterodactyl eyes, philosophy
I want this woven into a tapestry and hung on my wall.
(More Dinotopia coverage please.)
mallory why are you making me like ayn rand please stop
All I want to do is spend my upcoming long weekend rereading the entirety of the Dinotopia oeuvre but mine are several states away and my library has exactly nothing. Library! Why are you failing me in my hour of need?
Can we please all just talk about how excellent dinotopia is?!
(I came to it while I was in my late teens, making for some slightly awkward librarian encounters.)
What are Rand’s views with regards to the possible final line: “Don’t piss in the tub.” “Piss where ever you please; communal sewer systems are a sign of weakness.”
Bonus fun fact – I’ve met the guy who wrote/illustrated Dinotopia, James Gurney, and he is SUCH A DAD! He has all his neighbors dress up and model for his illustrations! He’s adorable! I also own his excellent book on hyperrealistic painting of imaginary things (like dinosaurs), Imaginative Realism: How to Paint What Doesn’t Exist.