live and let live ??

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 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 Fountainhead

The choice is not self-sacrifice or domination. 

The choice is independence or dependence. 

The code of the creator or the code of the second-hander. This is a basic issue. It rests upon the alternative of life or death. The code of the creator is built on the needs of the reasoning mind which allows a man to survive. The code of the second-hander is built on the needs of a mind incapable of survival. All that which proceeds from man’s independent ego is good. All that which proceeds from man’s dependence upon men is evil.

The egoist in the absolute sense is not the man who sacrifices others. He is the man who stands above the need of using others in any manner. He does not function through them. He is not concerned with them in any primary matter. Not in his aim, not in his motive, not in his thinking, not in his desires, not in the source of his energy. He does not exist for any other man—and he asks no other man to exist for him. This is the only form of brotherhood and mutual respect possible between men.

-    " How do you always manage to decide? "

-  " How can you let others decide for you?
I place nothing-nothing-above the verdict of my own mind "

-The Fountainhead