I am Andrew Ryan, and I'm here to ask you a question. Is a man not entitled to the sweat of his brow?

"No," says the man in Washington, "it belongs to the poor."
"No," says the man in the Vatican, "it belongs to God."
"No," says the man in Moscow, "it belongs to everyone."

I rejected those answers; instead, I chose something different. I chose the impossible. I chose... Rapture.

A city where the artist would not fear the censor; where the scientist would not be bound by petty morality; where the great would not be constrained by the small! And with the sweat of your brow, Rapture can become your city as well.

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What is the greatest lie ever created? What is the most vicious obscenity ever perpetrated on mankind? Slavery? The Holocaust? Dictatorship? No. It's the tool with which all that wickedness is built: altruism.

Whenever anyone wants others to do their work, they call upon their altruism. Never mind your own needs, they say, think of the needs of... of whoever. Of the state. Of the poor. Of the army, of the king, of God! The list goes on and on.

How many catastrophes were launched with the words 'think of yourself'? It's the 'king and country' crowd who light the torch of destruction. It is this great inversion, this ancient lie, which has chained humanity to an endless cycle of guilt and failure.