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Atlas Shrugged Power Quotes Page 1
Citations follow this format: (Volume.Chapter.Section.Page). We used the 50th Anniversary Edition published by Signet Books in 2007.
| Quote #1 Motive power – thought Dagny, looking up at the Taggart Building in the twilight – was its first need; motive power, to keep that building standing; movement, to keep it immovable. (1.4.1.1) |
Motive power is a running theme throughout the book. The idea of motors symbolizes Galt's strike and his value system, which proposes that the mind propels the world.
| Quote #2 The sounds of torture became defiance, the statement of agony became a hymn to a distant vision for whose sake anything was worth enduring, even this. It was the song of rebellion – and of a desperate quest. (1.4.1.37) |
Halley's Fourth Concerto seems to rebel against the world of the looters, expressing power by refusing to submit quietly. This concept of rebellion is important in the book: many of our heroes are trapped in bad situations with limited resources.
| Quote #3 "Dan," she said through her teeth, "fight it." |
Dan has taken in the looters' ideas to such an extent that he can't see a way around them, even though he knows they are wrong. He doesn't realize his own power to fight back here and instead is beaten down and defeated.
