- James Taggart: Here's to my wife, Mrs. James Taggart. Love does, indeed, conquer all. Even social and economic barriers. You know, money cannot buy happiness. Truer words were never spoken. We're no longer chasing the almighty dollar. Our ideals are higher than profit. Instead of the aristocracy of money, we have...
- Francisco d'Anconia: The aristocracy of pull. I mean, now, it's about influence. But you knew that already.
- James Taggart: What I know is that you need to learn some manners.
- Reception Guest #1: If you ever doubted that money was the root of all evil, there's your proof.
- Francisco d'Anconia: So, you think that money is the root of all evil. Have you ever asked yourself "What's the root of money?" Money is a tool that allows us to trade with one another. Your goods for mine. Your efforts for mine. The keystone of civilization. Having money is not the measure of a man. What matters is how he got it. If he produced it by creating value, then his money is a token of honor.
- James Taggart: Look who's talking about honor.
- Francisco d'Anconia: But if he's taken it from those who produce, then there is no honor. Then you're simply a looter.
- Reception Guest #2: Señor d'Anconia, we all know that money is made by the strong at the expense of the weak.
- Francisco d'Anconia: What kind of strength are you talking about? The power to create value? Or the ability to manipulate, to extort money in back room deals, - to exercise pull?
- James Taggart: All right... just leave.
- Francisco d'Anconia: Hey. When money ceases to be the tool by which men deal with one another, then men become the tools of men. Blood, whips, chains or dollars. Take your choice. There is no other. And your time is running out.
- Henry Rearden: So what do you want from me, Danagger?
- Ken Danagger: Four thousand tons of Rearden Metal, formed. Should be enough to shore up my mines and stop the cave-ins.
- Henry Rearden: You'll get your metal. When you need more, you'll get that, too. Fair Share be damned.
- Ken Danagger: We're walking a thin line here. Is it worth it?
- Henry Rearden: If I don't get coal, I can't make steel. If I don't make steel, Taggart stops moving. Everything collapses around that.
- Ken Danagger: Hank... Washington gets wind of this, we'll both be in trouble. I want you to know, I won't cooperate with Mouch and the rest of those crooks. I'll go to jail first.
- Henry Rearden: Then we'll go together.
- Dagny Taggart: What happened at Twentieth Century Motor Company?
- Jeff Allen: Who is John Galt?
- Dagny Taggart: I wish I knew who started that expression.
- Jeff Allen: That, that might've been me.
- Dagny Taggart: What?
- Jeff Allen: Well, me, or somebody else who worked at the plant back in Starnesville, Wisconsin. He used to work there.
- Dagny Taggart: What happened there?
- Jeff Allen: Well, Mr. Starnes passed and his heirs took over. They wasn't worth a lick. They had this big plan about how they were gonna run the place, and we were all gonna belong to each other, like a big family. And the idea was that everybody would work to best of his ability, but be paid according to his needs. That's when John Galt stood up and said he'd have no part of it.
- Dagny Taggart: How would they know whose needs came first?
- Jeff Allen: Now that is the rub, isn't it? Yeah. It fell apart pretty quick. The best workers had to work harder and the needy got needier. Worker turned against worker.
- Dagny Taggart: What happened to John Galt?
- Jeff Allen: You know, nobody knew too much about him, really. I just remember...
- [removes spectacles and rubs right eye]
- Jeff Allen: when he walked out he swore that he was gonna... he was gonna put an end to the whole thing once and for all. I will stop the motor of the world. I mean, what kind of thing is that to say, really, but...? I'll tell you something, ever since that day, every time I saw the lights go out and some factory close...... I thought about that man. I thought, maybe that's him... doing what he said... stopping the motor of the world.
- Judge Beckston: Henry Rearden, you are charged, along with Kenneth Danagger, in absentia...
- [cameras clicking]
- Judge Beckston: ... with one count of violation of Article 64 of the Fair Share Law. Specifically, the illegal sale and transfer of 4,000 tons of strategic material known as Rearden Metal to Kenneth Danagger and Danagger Coal. How do you plead, sir?
- Henry Rearden: I do not recognize this court's right to try me, nor do I recognize any of my actions as a crime.
- [people murmuring, Gavel banging]
- Judge Beckston: Mr. Rearden, you will have to enter a plea before this court. Simply refusing to obey the law is not a defense.
- Henry Rearden: If you believe you may seize my property simply because you need it, well then, so does any burglar. The only difference is a burglar doesn't ask my permission.
- Judge Beckston: Sir, I will remind you the punishment this court might impose on you is severe.
- Henry Rearden: Go ahead. Impose it. If you sentence me to jail, send armed men to get me. I will not volunteer to go. If you fine me, you'll have to seize my assets. I will not volunteer to pay. If you feel you have the right to use force against me, then show it for what it is... bring guns.
- Judge Beckston: Sir, we have no intention of pointing guns and seizing your property.
- Henry Rearden: Then why are we here?
- Judge Glesie: Mr. Rearden, you are misrepresenting the letter and the intent of the Fair Share Law. It is based on the highest principle, the principle of the public good.
- Henry Rearden: As defined by those who would dictate and regulate our behavior in our homes and our businesses, stealing their power from our liberty.
- [murmuring. applause]
- Judge Beckston: [gavel banging] Gallery will come to order!
- Judge Glesie: Mr. Rearden, you wouldn't want it misunderstood that you work for nothing but your own profit?
- Henry Rearden: Indeed. I want it understood clearly. I do not recognize the good of others as a justification for my existence. If their fair share demands that I get nothing for my labors, that it requires me to be a victim, then I say... public good be damned. I'll have no part of it.
- Judge Beckston: And how does that benefit your fellow man?
- Henry Rearden: I do not owe you an answer, but I could tell you in a hundred ways. Thousands of jobs, billions in revenue, fueling our economy despite your efforts to destroy the very foundation of our existence. And I believe most of my fellow men would say the same if they had a voice.
- [first lines]
- Dagny Taggart: [while losing control of her airplane] Who is John Galt? Who is John Galt?
- Dr. Robert Stadler: [reading] A device that draws static electricity from the atmosphere, and converts it to usable power, harvesting limitless energy without fossil fuels.
- Dr. Robert Stadler: We wouldn't need centralized power. It would end the global depression in a year. Maybe less. Imagine, Miss Taggart!
- Dagny Taggart: I do, every day.
- Title Card: Sometime in the near future... Railroads have re-emerged as the only affordable means of transportation. Excessively high energy prices have greatly reduced automobiles and commercial air travel...