man who renounces, but the man who creates; not the man who forsakes life, but the man who makes life possible.
The Objectivist ethics holds that man—every man—is an end in himself, not a means to the ends of others. He is
not a sacrificial animal. As a living being, he must exist for his own sake, neither sacrificing himself to others not
sacrificing others to himself. The achievement of his own happiness is man's highest moral purpose.
To live for his own happiness imposes a solemn responsibility on man: he must learn what his happiness
objectively requires. It is a responsibility that the majority of men have failed to assume. No belief is more
prevalent—or more disastrous—than that men can achieve their happiness by the pursuit of any random desires
they experience. The existence of such a profession as psychotherapy is an eloquent refutation of that belief.
Happiness is the consequence of living the life proper to man qua rational being, the consequence of pursuing and
achieving consistent, life-serving values.
Thus, Objectivism advocates an ethics of rational self-interest.
Only reason can judge what is or is not objectively to man's self-interest; the question cannot be decided by feeling
or whim. To act by the guidance of feelings and whims is to pursue a course of self-destruction; and self-
destruction is not to man's self-interest.
To think is to man's self-interest; to suspend his consciousness, is not. To choose his goals in the full context of his
knowledge, his values, and his life, is to man's self-interest; to act on the impulse of the moment, without regard for
his long-range context, is not. To exist as a productive being, is to man's self-interest; to attempt to exist as a
parasite, is not. To seek the life proper to his nature, is to man's self-interest; to seek to live as an animal, is not.
Such is the base of the Objectivist ethics.
We have seen that self-esteem is the hallmark of mental health. It is the consequence, expression, and reward of a
mind fully committed to reason. Commitment to reason is commitment to the maintenance of a full intellectual
focus, to the constant expansion of one's understanding and knowledge, to the principle that one's actions must be
consistent with one's convictions, that one must never attempt to fake reality, or place any consideration above
reality, that one must never permit oneself contradictions—that one