Howard Roark’s speech from Fountainhead…

One of my fav’s …

“Thousands of years ago, the first man discovered how to make fire. He was probably burned at the stake he had taught his brothers to light.

Centuries later, the first man invented the wheel. He was probably torn on the rack he had taught his brothers to build. He was considered a transgressor who ventured into forbidden terrritory. But thereafter, men could travel past any horizon. He had left them a gift they had not conceived and he had opened the roads of the world.

“That man, the unsubmissive and first, stands in the opening chapter of every legend mankind has recorded about its beginning. Prometheus was chained to a rock and torn by vultures—because he had stolen the fire of the gods. Adam was condemned to suffer—because he had eaten the fruit of the tree of knowledge. Whatever the legend, somewhere in the shadows of its memory mankind knew that its glory began with one and that that one paid for his courage.

“Throughout the centuries there were men who took first steps down new roads armed with nothing but their own vision. Their goals differed, but they all had this in common: that the step was first, the road new, the vision unborrowed, and the response they received—hatred. The great creators—the thinkers, the artists, the scientists, the inventors—stood alone against the men of their time. Every great new thought was opposed. Every great new invention was denounced. The first motor was considered foolish. The airplane was considered impossible. The power loom was considered vicious. Anesthesia was considered sinful. But the men of unborrowed vision went ahead. They fought, they suffered and they paid. But they won.

………………………..  read the full speech here

Posted via web from Learning to FLY

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5 thoughts on “Howard Roark’s speech from Fountainhead…

  1. I’ve recently quoted the film version which is somewhat different, though it is my understanding Rand wrote the screenplay as well.

  2. It seems to me that this web site doesnt load up in a Motorola Droid. Are other people getting the exact same issue? I like this blog and dont want to have to miss it whenever Im gone from my computer.

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