A cold wintry evening aside The Fountainhead

With today declared a snow holiday I had literally nothing to do at home. So the entire day, I read The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand. If you remember I have mentioned about the book in this post here. 

It was a balmy June evening when the earth was still damp from the early monsoon that I started reading this book. That was seven months ago and I am yet to finish it. There were too many distractions in between. I had to travel a lot the past year, had a hectic time at work and also had to shift my apartment in which I had to tuck the book away in some carton and could not locate it afterwards. To record, this is the only book I have taken this long to finish reading. Normally I would finish a book in a month at the most. I want to scream at myself for this slackness of mine. 

Anyways on a lighter note, few lines from the book had me awestruck this evening. It set out a food for thought in me;

"Look at everyone around us. You’ve wondered why they suffer, why they seek happiness and never find it. If any man stopped and asked himself whether he’s ever held a truly personal desire, he’d find the answer. He’d see that all his wishes, his efforts, his dreams, his ambitions are motivated by other men. He’s not really struggling even for material wealth, but for the secondhander delusion-prestige."

I re-read these lines over and over again and it straight away burnt into me. I think that all our wishes, efforts, dreams, ambitions etc are indeed driven by other men. What is this life if you do not have anybody to share your wishes, efforts, dreams and desires? Vanity and vanity it is!

Roark to Dominique (his love interest): “We never need to say anything to each other when we’re together.This is – for the time when we won’t be together. I love you Dominique…. To say ‘I love you’ one must first know how to say the ‘I’.”

“To sell your soul is the easiest thing in the world. That’s what everybody does every hour of his life. If I asked you to keep your soul – would you understand why that’s much harder?”

These are few of the excerpts from the book that burnt into me.

I found The Fountainhead, the much revered classic a powerful book and enjoyed it to a great extent. Through Roark (the protagonist), Rand propounds her theory of objectivism and the following of individualistic pursuits as against collectivism. Roark, a seemingly cold and emotionless figure fascinated me to great heights. I know I would not be able to do justice to the book if I review it here. Therefore, I would like to recommend you to read the book instead.

Happy reading ^_^