“The Objectivist ethics proudly advocates and upholds rational selfishness — which means: the values required for man’s survival qua man — which means: the values required for human survival — not the values produced by the desires, the emotions, the ‘aspirations,’ the feelings, the whims or the needs of irrational brutes, who have never outgrown the primordial practice of human sacrifices, have never discovered an industrial society and can conceive of no self-interest but that of grabbing the loot of the moment.” — Ayn Rand

Learn More:

• “Good, The”; “Morality”; “Self-Interest” in The Ayn Rand Lexicon
• “Being Selfish, Being Happy” by Tara Smith
• “The Objectivist Ethics” by Ayn Rand
• In Defense of Selfishness: Why the Code of Self-Sacrifice is Unjust and Destructive by Peter Schwartz