Rand at Troynovant:
inspirations via Ayn Rand (1905-1982);
by, about, discussed, or quoted,
listed by Type and Title
  

"Who is John Galt?"

The light was ebbing, and Eddie Willers could not distinguish the bum's face. The bum had said it simply, without expression. But from the sunset far at the end of the street, yellow glints caught his eyes, and the eyes looked straight at Eddie Willers, mocking and still — as if the question had been addressed to the causeless uneasiness within him.

"Why did you say that?" asked Eddie Willers, his voice tense.

The bum leaned against the side of the doorway; a wedge of broken glass behind him reflected the metal yellow of the sky.

"Why does it bother you?" he asked.

Ayn Rand
Part I: "Non-Contradiction" — Chapter I: "The Theme"
Atlas Shrugged

  
[A street in Padua.]

Tranio:

Mi perdonate, gentle master mine.

I am in all affected as yourself;
Glad that you thus continue your resolve
To suck the sweets of sweet philosophy.

Only, good master, while we do admire
This virtue and this moral discipline,
Let's be no stoics nor no stocks, I pray,
Or so devote to Aristotle's checks
As Ovid be an outcast quite abjured.

Balk logic with acquaintance that you have,
And practise rhetoric in your common talk.

Music and poesy use to quicken you;
The mathematics and the metaphysics,
Fall to them as you find your stomach serves you.

No profit grows where is no pleasure ta'en;
In brief, sir, study what you most affect.

William Shakespeare
The Taming of the Shrew, 1.1.25-40
 

  
Rand continued to write [The Fountainhead] in longhand and to read aloud to the O'Connor brothers, who would sometimes suggest American expressions or idiomatic bits of dialogue. Then she would expertly type her new pages, making alterations based on how they sounded. She regularly consulted [Isabel] Paterson, too, particularly about her characters' speeches. Among other suggestions the older woman made was one to eliminate explicit references to Hitler, Stalin, Fascism, Nazism — to all contemporary history. "The theme of your book is wider than the politics of the moment," Patterson told her. "You are really writing about collectivism — any past, present, or future form of it." This was excellent advice, and Rand took it, not only in The Fountainhead but also in Atlas Shrugged. The novels' timeless, almost mythical atmosphere is surely one of the reasons for their enduring popularity.

Anne C. Heller
Ayn Rand and the World She Made  (2009)