Tom Snyder: I kind of think of this whole thing as ongoing - that there is an eternity and that we're going to be a part of that eternity. That we're not just corpses in graves when we die.
Ayn Rand: But we aren't corpses in graves. We are not there. Don't you understand that when this life is finished, you're not there to say, "Oh, how terrible that I'm a corpse." No.
Tom Snyder: Well, this is true.
Ayn Rand: It's finished. And what I've always thought was a sentence from some Greek philosopher - I don't unfortunately remember who it was - that I read at sixteen and it's affected me all my life: "I will not die; it's the world that will end." And that's absolutely true....and when it's the end I don't have to worry about it. I'm not there. It's too bad that the world will end - and I think a very wonderful world will end with me, but I've had my time and I can't complain.
just finished watching a youtube video of clips taken from Ayn Rand interviews...your blog came up on my google search for "I will not die; it's the world that will end."
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fTmac2fs5HQ&feature=related