Commie Businessman #1: It’s not my fault! It’s the fault of stone hearted businessman and greedy people who don’t care about people, only profits! It’s not my fault!
Hank Rearden and Dagny Taggart: Where is the guy who made the perpetual motion machine?
Kit Bradley: Why are you guys doing this, personally? Don’t you have a business to run? One that is under attack by corrupt politicians? Why aren’t you in Washington, making sure that your business interests are being protected?
Ayn Rand: Any man capable of running a business is not capable of dealing with politicians!
Kit: You know, Howard Hughes was alive when you wrote this book. He wasn’t even crazy, yet. It absolutely is possible to run a good factory and deal with the government attacking you.
Ayn Rand: …
Ayn Rand: ……
Ayn Rand: Sh’up.
Commie Businessman #1: Here’s a clue.
Commie Businessman #2: It’s not my fault! It’s the fault of stone hearted businessman and greedy people who don’t care about people, only profits! It’s not my fault!
Dagny Taggert: Where is the guy made the perpetual motion machine?
Commie Businessman #2: Here’s a clue.
Commie Businessman #3: It’s not my fault! It’s the fault of stone hearted businessman and greedy people who don’t care about people, only profits! It’s not my fault!
Kit: Why are all these guys saying the exact same thing, over and over! Argh! The pacing in this book is like a precisely timed jackhammer hitting my nuts!
Ayn Rand: The most important part of a novel is the plot.
Kit: WHY DON’T YOU HAVE ONE, THEN? You’re just repeating yourself! All your commies offer, unsolicited, the same excuses over and over! We heard you the first TWO HUNDRED TIMES!
Ayn Rand: You don’t understand REASON!
Kit: I do understand good writing, and mindless repetition ain’t it.
Dagny: Where is the guy made the perpetual motion machine?
Commie Businessman #3: Here’s a clue.
Commie Businessman #4: It’s not my fault! It’s the fault of stone hearted businessman and greedy people who don’t care about people, only profits! It’s not my fault!
Dagny: Where is the guy made the perpetual motion machine?
Kit: FOUR commie businessmen repeating their lame rationalizations? Couldn’t you have at least come up with NEW lame rationalizations? Clearly not . . .
Commie Businessman #4: Here’s a clue.
Wife of Dead Engineer: My husband is dead. The electrostatic engine was made by a brilliant young engineer who is not John Galt. (He’s totally John Galt.) He worked at this factory in Colorado.
Dagny: Yay! Progress! Off to Colorado.
Burger Flipper in Colorado: I’m really a famous philosopher. The last proponent of reason. I flip burgers in Colorado for REASONS.
Dagny: Where is the guy made the perpetual motion machine?
Burger Flipper in Colorado Who is Also a Famous Philosopher: Don’t bother looking. You’ll never learn! I’ll never tell you!
Dagny: I accept this because you’re tall and thin, therefore you’re a good capitalist. So, you had three great students. Francisco d’Anaconia, Ragnar Danneskjold and some mystery guy who isn’t John Galt. (He’s totally John Galt.) Are you proud of them?
Burger Flipper in Colorado Who is Also a Famous Philosopher: I am very proud of the guy who is a fraudster and the other who is a pirate. Reason demands I be proud of their fraud and piracy. The third isn’t anyone famous, you don’t need to know about him, and he’s totally not John Galt. (He’s totally John Galt.)
Newspaper: A man name Wesley Mouch (character’s real name, not making that one up, friends) has UNLIMITED POWER to pass business laws. He made a law that says that no train can carry more loads than the trains in adjacent states, even though this literally makes no sense in any possible fashion, even if you’re a commie. To pay for this, there’s going to be a special Colorado-specific corporate tax, which is also bafflingly stupid.
Wyatt Ellis: Fuck that! I’m going to leave my factories the same way I found them! ON FIRE!
Kit: Wha’?
Dagny: Nooooooooooooo!