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- [Mike Wallace] Who are you, Ayn Rand?
You have an accent which is...
- [Rand] Russian.
- [Wallace] Russian. You were born in Russia?
- [Rand] Yes.
- [Wallace] Came here?
- [Rand] Oh, about 30 years ago.
- [Wallace] And whence did this philosophy
of yours come?
- [Rand] Out of my own mind.
With the sole acknowledgement of a debt
to Aristotle, who was the only philosopher
that ever influenced me.
I devised the rest of my philosophy myself.
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- [Wallace] You are married?
- [Rand] Yes.
- [Wallace] Your husband, is he an industrialist?
- [Rand] No, he's an artist. His name is Frank O'Connor.
- [Wallace] Does he live from his painting?
- [Rand] He's just beginning to study painting.
He was a designer before.
- [Wallace] Is he supported in his efforts by the state?
- [Rand] Most certainly not.
- [Wallace] He's supported by you for the time being?
- [Rand] No, by his own work, actually, in the past.
- [Wallace] Well, I know that-
- [Rand] By me, if necessary
but that isn't quite necessary.
- [Wallace] And there is no contradiction here
in that you help him?
- [Rand] No, because you see, I am in love
with him selfishly.
It is to my own interest to help him
if he ever needed it.
I would not call that a sacrifice because
I take selfish pleasure in it.
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I say that man is entitled to his own happiness
and that he must achieve it himself
but that he cannot demand that others
give up their lives to make him happy
nor should he wish to sacrifice himself
for the happiness of others.
I hold that man should have self-esteem.
- [Wallace] And cannot man have self-esteem
if he loves his fellow man?
Christ and every important modern leader
in man's history has taught us that we should
love one another.
Why then is this kind of love, in your mind, immoral?
- [Rand] It is immoral if it is a love placed above oneself
because more than immoral, it's impossible
because when you are asked to love
everybody indiscriminately
that is, to love people without any standard
to love them regardless of whether
they have any value or virtue
you are asked to love nobody.
- [Wallace] But in a sense, in your book
you talk about love as if it were
a business deal of some kind.
Isn't the essence of love that it is
above self-interest?
- [Rand] Well, what would it mean to have love
above self interest?
It would mean, for instance, that the husband
would tell his wife, if he were moral
according to the conventional morality
that I am marrying you just for your own sake.
I have no personal interest in it
but I am so unselfish that I am marrying you
only for your own good.
- [Wallace] Well, should husbands and wives tally up-
- [Rand] Would any woman like that?
I agree with you that it should be treated
like a business deal
but every business has to have its own terms
and its own kind of currency
and in love, the currency's virtue.
You love people, not for what you do for them
or what they do for you.
You love them for their values, their virtues.
You don't love causelessly.
You don't love everybody indiscriminately.
You love only those who deserve it.
Man has free will.
If a man wants love, he should correct his flaws
and he may deserve it
but he cannot expect the unearned.
- [Wallace] There are very few of us then
in this world by your standards
who are worthy of love.
- [Rand] Unfortunately, yes, very few.
But it is open to everybody
to make themselves worthy of it
and that is all that my morality offers them.
- [Wallace] If they will-
- [Rand] A way to make themselves worthy of love
although that's not the primary motive.
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- [Wallace] Isn't it possible that we are all
basically lonely people
and we are basically our brother's keepers?
- [Rand] Nobody has ever given a reason
why man should be their brother's keepers
and you see the examples around you
of men perishing by the attempt
to be their brother's keepers.
- [Wallace] You have no faith in anything?
- [Rand] Faith? Oh no.
- [Wallace] Only in your mind?
- [Rand] That is not faith. That is a conviction.
Yes, I have no faith at all.
I only hold conviction.
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- [Wallace] As we said at the outset
if Ayn Rand's ideas were ever to take hold
they would revolutionize the world.
And to those who would reject her philosophy
Miss Rand hurls this challenge.
For the past 2,000 years the world has been
dominated by other philosophies.
Look around you.
Consider the results.
We thank Ayn Rand for adding
her portrait to our gallery.
One of the people other people are interested in.
Mike Wallace, goodbye.
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