It is not in the nature of man—nor of any living entity—to start out by giving up, by spitting in one’s own face and damning existence; that requires a process of corruption whose rapidity differs from man to man. Some give up at the first touch of pressure; some sell out; some run down by imperceptible degrees and lose their fire, never knowing when or how they lost it. Then all of these vanish into the vast swamp of their elders who tell them persistently that maturity consists of abandoning one’s mind; security, of abandoning one’s values; practicality, of losing self-esteem.
—Ayn Rand, from the introduction to The Fountainhead
人的本性和生命的本质，不是从放弃，从自己的脸上吐出来，诅咒生存，而这是一个腐败的过程，它的速度在人与人之间是不同的。有些人在第一次接触压力时就放弃了；有些人卖掉了；有些人不知不觉地跑了下来，失去了他们的火，不知道他们何时或怎样失去了它。然后所有这些都消失在他们长辈们的茫茫沼泽中，他们不断地告诉他们，成熟是由放弃思想、安全、抛弃自己的价值、践行、丧失自尊。
- Ayn Rand，从源头的介绍（谷歌翻译仅供参考）