All 50 Uses of
principle
in
Atlas Shrugged
- Remembering that you and I have disagreed so often in the past, I thought you would be gratified to see me acting in accordance with your principles.†
Chpt 1.6 *
- No principles have ever had any effect on society.†
Chpt 1.7
- It has always been the belief of this column that certain kinds of horses should be kept bridled and locked, on general social principles.†
Chpt 1.8
- "What I can't stand," said Mayor Bascom, "is people who talk about principles.†
Chpt 1.10
- No principle ever filled anybody's milk bottle.†
Chpt 1.10
- It was based on the principle of selflessness.†
Chpt 1.10
- His equipment is still there, though in a dreadful condition; some of his processes are known, but somehow there is no full record of the complete operation or the basic principle involved.†
Chpt 2.1
- It's his basic principle that we must discover.†
Chpt 2.1
- We can't go by rigid principles, we've got to be flexible, we've got to adjust to the reality of the day and act on the expediency of the moment.†
Chpt 2.1
- Go and try to pour a ton of steel without rigid principles, on the expediency of the moment.†
Chpt 2.1
- It seemed to her that some destroyer was moving soundlessly through the country and the lights were dying at his touch-someone, she thought bitterly, who had reversed the principle of the Twentieth Century motor and was now turning kinetic energy into static.†
Chpt 2.2
- Money is the material shape of the principle that men who wish to deal with one another must deal by trade and give value for value.†
Chpt 2.2
- Your wallet is your statement of hope that somewhere in the world around you there are men who will not default on that moral principle which is the root of money.†
Chpt 2.2
- He then proceeded to discourse upon the foolishness of consistency in a world where nothing was absolute except the principle of compromise.†
Chpt 2.3
- But if you had to stand trial on another, much more serious charge, where Project X and the State Science Institute were not involved, and where you could not raise any issue of principle or arouse any public sympathy-why, that would not inconvenience us at all, but it would cost you more than you would care to contemplate.†
Chpt 2.3
- Issues of. principle are such a nuisance," said Dr. Ferris, smiling, "and such a waste of time for all concerned.†
Chpt 2.3
- Now would you care to be a martyr for an issue of principle, only in circumstances where nobody will know that that's what you are-nobody but you and me-where you won't get a chance to breathe a word about the issue or the principle-where you won't be a hero, the creator of a spectacular new metal, making a stand against enemies whose actions might appear somewhat shabby in the eyes of the public-where you won't be a hero, but a common criminal, a greedy industrialist who's cheated the…†
Chpt 2.3
- Now would you care to be a martyr for an issue of principle, only in circumstances where nobody will know that that's what you are-nobody but you and me-where you won't get a chance to breathe a word about the issue or the principle-where you won't be a hero, the creator of a spectacular new metal, making a stand against enemies whose actions might appear somewhat shabby in the eyes of the public-where you won't be a hero, but a common criminal, a greedy industrialist who's cheated the…†
Chpt 2.3
- If you want to see an abstract principle, such as moral action, in material form-there it is.†
Chpt 2.3
- But what I wonder about, Mr. Rearden, is why you live by one code of principles when you deal with nature and by another when you deal with men?†
Chpt 2.3
- Oh, I know that you think you're fighting for some sort of principle —but actually it's only a matter of your incredible conceit.†
Chpt 2.4
- I think you should remember that it's not for you to make a stand on any sort of principle.†
Chpt 2.4
- A prisoner brought to trial can defend himself only if there is an objective principle of justice recognized by his judges, a principle upholding his rights, which they may not violate and which he can invoke.†
Chpt 2.4
- A prisoner brought to trial can defend himself only if there is an objective principle of justice recognized by his judges, a principle upholding his rights, which they may not violate and which he can invoke.†
Chpt 2.4
- The law, by which you are trying me, holds that there are no principles, that I have no rights and that you may do with me whatever you please.†
Chpt 2.4
- Mr. Rearden, the law which you are denouncing is based on the highest principle-the principle of the public good.†
Chpt 2.4
- Mr. Rearden, the law which you are denouncing is based on the highest principle-the principle of the public good.†
Chpt 2.4
- The eldest judge leaned forward across the table and his voice became suavely derisive: "You speak as if you were fighting for some sort of principle, Mr. Rearden, but what you're actually fighting for is only your property, isn't it?"†
Chpt 2.4
- Do you know the kind of principle that represents?†
Chpt 2.4
- The other kind of half is the man whom people call practical, the man who despises principles, abstractions, art, philosophy and his own mind.†
Chpt 2.4
- So I acted on the principle that need comes first.†
Chpt 2.5
- But whether this had been Boyle's motive or whether it had been the principle of sacrifice, no one could tell and it made no difference: if Boyle had been a saint of the creed of selflessness, he would have had to do precisely what he had done.†
Chpt 2.5
- This silenced the president of the Atlantic Southern; he dared not admit that he cared for his railroad more than for the people of Germany; he dared not argue against the principle of sacrifice.†
Chpt 2.5
- See whether you can flout all moral principles and get away with it!†
Chpt 2.5
- There are no absolute principles which-†
Chpt 2.6
- If there aren't any principles any more-and I guess the doc is right, because there sure aren't-if there aren't any rules to this game and it's only a question of who robs whom-then I've got more votes than the bunch of you, there are more workers than employers, and don't you forget it, boys!†
Chpt 2.6
- Don't sign it, on principle.†
Chpt 2.6
- But there aren't any principles.†
Chpt 2.6
- Morals or no morals, principles or no principles, just don't sign it-because it isn't right!†
Chpt 2.6
- Morals or no morals, principles or no principles, just don't sign it-because it isn't right!†
Chpt 2.6
- Although the gift program has gone through quite smoothly, there are still a few stubborn individualists left, who have failed to sign-small fry, really, whose patents are of no crucial value, but we cannot let them remain unbound, as a matter of principle, you understand.†
Chpt 2.6
- And this has brought us to a world where the more a man produces, the closer he comes to the loss of all his rights, until, if his ability is great enough, he becomes a rightless creature delivered as prey to any claimant-while in order to be placed above rights, above principles, above morality, placed where anything is permitted to him, even plunder and murder, all a man has to do is to be in need.†
Chpt 2.7
- One could prove nothing to a tribunal that had no stated policy, no defined procedure, no rules of evidence, no binding principles-a tribunal, such as the Unification Board, that pronounced men guilty or innocent as it saw fit, with no standard of guilt or innocence.†
Chpt 2.7
- -no principles-why should you be bound by the law of cause and-effect?†
Chpt 2.7
- "Dr. Akston quit on the principle of sound banking," said Midas Mulligan.†
Chpt 3.1
- I quit on the principle of love.†
Chpt 3.1
- Principles have no influence on public affairs.†
Chpt 3.3
- All of their gross revenue is turned over to the Railroad Pool Board in Washington, which acts as trustee for the industry as a whole, and divides the total income among the various railroads, according to a .... a more modern principle of distribution.†
Chpt 3.3
- What principle?†
Chpt 3.3
- While I was busy conquering matter, I had surrendered to them the realm of the mind, of thought, of principle, of law, of values, of morality.†
Chpt 3.3
Definition:
-
(principle) a basic rule or beliefThe exact meaning of principle can depend upon its context. For example:
- "our guiding principles" -- basic moral beliefs that guide decisions and behavior
- "electromagnetic principles" -- rules describing how the world works
- "She lacks principles." -- lacks moral guidelines
- "We agree in principle." -- about important basic beliefs