"Do you want to stand alone against the whole world?" "There's no place for originality in architecture." "Nobody can improve on the buildings of the past." "One can only learn to copy them." "We've tried to teach you the accepted historical styles." "You refuse to learn." "You won't consider anybody's judgment but your own." "You insist on designing buildings that look like nothing ever built before." "This school has no choice but to expel you." "It is my duty as your dean to say you will never become an architect." "You can't hope to survive unless you learn how to compromise." "Watch me." "In just a few short years I'll shoot to the top of the profession because I'm gonna give the public what it wants." "You'll never get anywhere." "So you want to work for Henry Cameron, huh?" "oh, I know." "He was a great architect 30 years ago." "But he fought for modern architecture and he's done for." "What do you get?" "Why do you wanna work for me?" "You're setting out to ruin yourself." "You know that?" "I ought to throw you out of here right now before it's too late." "I..." "I wish I'd done this at your age." "Why did you have to come to me?" "I'm perfectly happy with the drooling dolts I've got." "I don't want any fool visionaries starving around here." "You're an egotist." "You're impertinent." "You're too sure of yourself." "Twenty years ago, I'd have punched your face with the greatest of pleasure." "You're coming to work for me tomorrow morning at 9:00." "No, no, no." "Now, leave these here." "Now get out." "Wait." "What's your name?" "Howard Roark." "Paper here." "Read all about it." "Paper, mister?" "Get your morning Banner." "Read all about it." "Morning Banner." "Paper, mister?" "Get your Banner." "Read all about it." "Morning Banner, sir." "Read all about it." "Give me that paper." "Now give me another one." "Give me all of them." "I said, give me all of them." "You..." "You all think I'm beaten, don't you?" "That's all the money I've got, but I can still do this with my money." "I can still do this..." "Howard." "Look at..." "Look here." "In this paper, won't you..." "It's no use, Howard." "Why don't you give up?" "Come inside." "It's no use." "You..." "You took over when I gave it up." "My..." "My heir, eh?" "And look at it." "You haven't got any further than I did..." " ...and you won't." " We'll see." "How many years have you been on your own now?" "And what have you got to show for it?" "You've done four buildings in all these years." "That's quite a good deal to show for it." "After the kind of struggle you've had?" "I didn't expect it to be easy, but those who want me will come to me." "They don't want you, son." "Don't you understand?" "This is what they want." "Gail Wynand's Banner the foulest newspaper on earth." "You hold to your own ideas and you'll starve." "Gail Wynand gives people what they ask for:" "The common, the vulgar, and the trite." "And he's maybe the most powerful man living." " Can you fight that?" " I never notice it." "Look." "You see those people down there?" "You know what they think of architecture?" "I don't care what they think of architecture or anything else." "I..." "I don't want to see what they'll do to you." "Me, I am..." "I'm through." "I've had enough." "I don't want any part of Gail Wynand's city!" "Get me an ambulance." "Howard, look at those buildings." "Skyscrapers, the greatest structural invention of man." "Yet they made them look like Greek temples Gothic cathedrals and mongrels of every ancient style they could borrow just because others had done it." "I told them." "I told them that the form of a building must follow its function." "That new materials demand new forms." "That one building can't borrow pieces of another's shape just as one man can't borrow another's soul." "Howard, every new idea in the world comes from the mind of some one man and you know the price he has to pay for it?" "I built that." "Howard, you do me a favor." "All my things that you're keeping for me, I want you to burn them." "All my..." "My papers, my drawings, my contracts." " Everything." "Burn them, will you?" " Yes." "I don't want to leave anything to the world." "How sorry, I'm leaving you to face them." "Howard, it's no use!" "Give in." "Compromise." "Compromise now." "You'll have to later, anyway." "Why are you saying that to me?" "That's not what you did." "That's why I'm saying it." "Because it's not what I did." "Do you want to end up this way?" "It's your future." " Do you want it?" " Yes." "Then may God bless you, Howard." "You're on your way into hell." " Hello, Howard." " Hello, Peter." "Just passing by." "Thought I'd drop in." "I haven't seen you for such a long time." "Did you know Guy Francon made me his partner last week?" "No." "You see, you don't keep track of my career, but I've watched yours." "Yes, it's Francon and Keating now." "I don't have to tell you that Guy Francon is the leading architect." "No, you don't have to." "Remember?" "I told you once I'd rise." " Hello?" " Western Union?" "No." "You have the wrong number." "Are you waiting for something, Howard?" "You were telling me about Guy Francon." "I was just reminding you of what I once predicted." "I hate to see you brought down to this." "Remember how we started?" "And look at us now." "Haven't you had enough of it?" "Why did you come here, Peter?" "Because we're old friends..." " ...and I hate to see you being beaten." " I'm not." "oh, it's no use pretending now." "You haven't had any clients for a year." "You're wrong, Peter." "For a year and a half." "Well, you might have a couple of hundred dollars left and then it's the end." "I have $ 14 left and 57 cents." "And all those bills?" "It's an unpaid electric light bill?" "It's a disconnect notice and in the drawer, you'll find an eviction notice." "How do you expect to go on?" "That's my concern and not yours." "Now, don't protest, Howard." "You can pay me back anytime." "You need it." "Thank you, Peter." "I don't need it." "But I want to help you." "I don't give or ask for help." "oh, why don't you drop it?" " What?" " The pose." "or the ideals, if you prefer." "You can't stand alone." "Give in." "Learn to get along with people." "Design the kind of buildings everybody does, then you'll be rich, famous." "You'll be admired." "You'll be one of us." "Is that what disturbs you about me, Peter?" "That I want to stand alone?" "Is that it?" "I don't know." "Go home, Peter." "It's getting late." " Have you lost your watch, Howard?" " I hocked it." "Good night." "Good luck." " Hello?" " Mr. Roark?" " Yes." " I promised our answer today, Mr. Roark but unfortunately, the board of directors hasn't reached a decision yet." "I know you've been kept waiting a long time but the drawings you submitted for our building are so unusual that we find it difficult to decide." "I think I can promise you a definite answer tomorrow." "If not, it'll have to wait over the weekend but by Monday we'll know." "You've been wonderfully patient with us, Mr. Roark." "Can you wait a little longer?" "Yes, I'll wait." "Thank you." "Mr. Roark, the commission is yours." "The Board of Directors of the Security Bank of Manhattan has chosen you as the architect for our building." "My congratulations." "You've done a beautiful job." "The board was quite impressed by the project." "It's a tremendous assignment, an unusual opportunity for an architect." "You're unknown but you'll be famous when this is erected." "It's a chance you've wanted for years." " Yes." " It's yours." "On one minor condition." "oh, it's just a small compromise and when you agree to it, we can sign the contract." " What is it?" " Well, of course we wouldn't alter your plans in any way." "It's the ingenuity of your plans that sold us on the building." "But its appearance is not of any known style." "The public wouldn't like it." "It'd shock people." "It's too different, too original." "originality is fine, but why go to extremes?" "There's always the middle course." "So we want to preserve your beautiful design but just soften it with a touch of classical dignity." "Here." "We've had this made to show you our general idea." "It's very simple." "All you do is copy it." "We want you to adapt your building like this." "Now there's a touch of the new and a touch of the old so it's sure to please everybody." "The middle of the road." "Why take chances when you can stay in the middle?" "You see?" "It doesn't spoil anything, does it?" "And we must always compromise with the general taste." "You understand that." "No." "If you want my work, you take it as it is..." " ...or not at all." " But why?" "A building has integrity, just like a man." "And just as seldom." "It must be true to its own idea, have its own form and serve its own purpose." "But we can't depart from the popular forms of architecture." "Why not?" " Because everybody's accepted them." " I haven't." "Do you wish to defy our common standards?" "I set my own standards." " Do you intend to fight against the world?" " If necessary." "But after all, we are your clients, and it's your job to serve us." "I don't build in order to have clients." "I have clients in order to build." "Mr. Roark, we can't argue about this." "The decision of our board was final." "We want these changes." "Will you accept the commission on our terms, or not?" "You realize, of course, your whole future is at stake." "This may be your last chance." "Well?" "Yes or no, Mr. Roark?" "No." "You realize what you're doing?" "Quite." "Roark, this is sheer insanity." "Can't you give in just once?" "After all, you have to live." " Not that way." " How else?" "Don't you have to work?" "I'd rather work as a day laborer, if necessary." " Well, can you beat that?" " No." "It was you who recommended Roark in the first place." "You chose him." "You said he would be good." " Wasn't he?" " You suggested those changes." "You said he'd accept them." "oh, yes, so I did." "I told you, Mr. Gail Wynand wants buildings that show a classical influence." " Then why did you pick this man?" " An experiment, gentlemen." "A very interesting experiment." "But what are we going to do?" "Pick another architect, of course." "Yes, Mr. Toohey." "I'm sure you know that I seek nothing for myself, Mr. Wynand." "My only motive is a selfless concern for my fellow men." "The new building of the Security Bank is such an important undertaking and you hold the controlling interest, Mr. Wynand." "The board of directors has attempted to pick an architect quite unsuccessfully." "They will accept anyone you choose." "And I felt it my duty to offer you my advice." " Whom do you recommend?" " The rising star of the profession Peter Keating." "No other architect can equal his ability." "That, Mr. Wynand, is my sincere opinion." "I quite believe you." " You do?" " Of course, but, Mr. Toohey why should I consider your opinion?" "Well, after all, I am the architectural critic of the Banner." "My dear Toohey, don't confuse me with my readers." "I..." "I took the liberty of bringing you some samples of Peter Keating's best work." "You may judge for yourself." " If you have seen any of these buildings..." " I have." "They were excellent 2000 years ago when they were built for the first time." "But surely you're not in favor of so-called modern architecture?" "It's worthless because it's merely the work of a few unbridled individualists." "Artistic value is achieved collectively by each man subordinating himself to the standards of the majority." " I read that in your column yesterday." " You did?" "Thank you." "The greatness in Peter Keating's personality lies in the fact that there's no personality..." " ...stamped upon his buildings." " Quite true." "Thus he represents not himself but the multitude of all men together." "And produces great big marble bromides." "I believe I am failing to sell you Peter Keating." "Why, no." "You're succeeding." "Your Keating is worthless so he's probably the right choice for that building." "He's sure to be popular." "You wouldn't expect me to pick a man of merit, would you?" "I've never hired a good architect for any of the banks, hotels or other commercial structures I've built." "I give the public what it wants, including your column, Mr. Toohey." "Am I to understand you will choose Peter Keating?" "I really don't care. one of those fashionable architects is just as inept as another." "I think you have a good idea, however." "I think I will decide according to the advice of the Banner's "Architectural Experts."" "Yes, indeed, Mr. Wynand." "But you're not my only expert, Mr. Toohey." "You have a rival." "I should consult Dominique Francon, as well." " Yes, sir?" " Ask Miss Francon to come in." " Miss Francon and I do not always agree." " I'm sure of it." " Yes?" " Mr. Wynand, I know it's inexcusable but Miss Francon is not in the building." "Shall I telephone her home and ask her to come here at once?" "No." "You're not going in person..." "You know, Toohey?" "one of these days, you'll bore me." "I shall endeavor not to do so until the right time." "How did you come in?" "Your maid let me in." "Without an announcement?" "You can't expect her to share your attitude." "You're the only person in New York who'd refuse me admittance." "Why did you come here?" "I needed you at the office." "I found you absent." "Isn't it unprecedented for you to come in person after one of your employees?" "I hoped you'd take note of that." "I wanted to ask your advice about a matter which will be of great interest to you." "I must pick an architect for the Security Bank building." "Whom would you recommend?" "No one." "I don't know a single architect of ability." "And you're not looking for ability, Mr. Wynand." "And if I left the choice up to you?" " I wouldn't care to make it." " No?" "Ellsworth Toohey is very anxious to get the commission for Peter Keating." "Peter Keating is a third-rate architect." " Is he?" "He's your father's partner." " Oh, yes." " Aren't you engaged to Peter Keating?" " Yes." "If you found it amusing to tempt me by offering to help Peter's career you miscalculated." "I have no desire to help his career." "I was trying to tempt you, but I didn't find it amusing." "I should like to meet Peter Keating." "Will you have dinner with me this evening?" "We'll discuss the commission." " If you wish." " Incidentally, I'd have fired anyone else for being absent from the office." "I know it." " Shall I consider myself fired?" " You want to be?" "Don't really care one way or another." "You know, you could do much more than write a small column about buildings." "You could make a brilliant career on the Banner if you asked me for it." "I never wanted a career on the Banner." "Tell me, what would you consider as tempting?" "I'd like to find something you could want." "Don't try to, Mr. Wynand." "I'll never want anything." "Do you know what I was doing when you came in?" "I had a statue which I found in Europe, the statue of a god." "I think I was in love with it..." " ...but I broke it." " What do you mean?" " I threw it down the air shaft." " Why?" "So that I wouldn't have to love it." "I didn't wanna be tied to anything." "I wanted to destroy it rather than let it be part of a world where beauty and genius and greatness have no chance." "The world of the mob and of the Banner." "Do you still want me to have dinner with you tonight?" "More than ever." "It's such a magnificent opportunity." "I'll do my best to please you." " I take it you want this commission." " Want it?" "I'd sell my soul for it." "That may be the right phrase." "Everything in life has its price." "In this instance, the price is that you break your engagement to Miss Francon." "My engagement?" "Why?" "For any reason you care to imagine." "You may think what you wish about my motives but that is the condition I demand." " Dominique?" " No, I'm not going to help you." "I'd like to see it decided between Mr. Wynand and yourself." " But would you agree?" " The choice is yours." "our engagement helped you to become my father's partner." "Mr. Wynand's patronage will help you much more." "I'm sure this is a joke, Mr. Wynand." "Things like this aren't being done." "They're done all the time but not talked about." "I grant you that I'm behaving abominably." "It's extremely cruel to be honest." "I..." "I don't know what I'm supposed to do." "It's simple." "You're supposed to slap my face." "You were supposed to do that several minutes ago." "No?" "You don't wanna do that?" "of course, you don't have to and you don't have to accept." "Would you rather refuse the commission?" " No." " Fine, Mr. Keating." "Now I think it would be best if you left." "Call up my office in the morning, and we'll sign the contract." "If that's what you want, I'm not going to interfere." "We should be grown-up about it, shouldn't we?" "I'm sure we'll have no trouble, Mr. Wynand." "Good night." "Why did you do this?" "Did you believe I'd agree like Peter?" "Did you expect to win me by your usual methods?" "of course not." "I merely wanted to show you that all men are corrupt, anyone be bought." "And that you're wrong in your contempt for me." "There is no honest way to deal with people." "We have no choice except to submit or to rule them." "I chose to rule." "A man of integrity would do neither." "There are no men of integrity." "I have many years behind me to prove it." "I was born in Hell's Kitchen." "I rose out of the gutter by creating the Banner." "It's a contemptible paper, isn't it?" "But it has achieved my purpose." " What was your purpose?" " Power." "Why are you trying to justify yourself to me?" "I wasn't trying to jus..." "Yes." " That is what I was doing." " Why?" "I think you know it." "You see?" "I suppose I'm one of those freaks you hear about." "A woman completely incapable of feeling." "I was engaged to Peter Keating because he was the most safely, unimportant person I could find." "And I knew I'd never be in love." "Haven't you ever loved anyone?" "No, and I never will." "If I fell in love, it'd be like the statue of the Greek god again." "I know it." "I accept it." "I want you to marry me." "If I ever decide to punish myself for some terrible guilt..." " ..." "I'll marry you." " I'll wait." "No matter what reason you choose for it." " Will you let me see you again?" " I'm leaving the city in a few days." " Where are you going?" " To Father's place in Connecticut." "I'm going there so I won't have to see anyone." "What are you really seeking?" "Freedom: to want nothing, to expect nothing, to depend on nothing." "Why, Miss Francon." "How do you do?" "What are you doing here?" "I'm out here for the summer." "Father let me have his house all to myself." " I thought I'd take a look at this quarry." " Let me show you around." "This is the best gray granite in Connecticut." " Why, last month, we shipped..." " Who's that man?" "What man, Miss Francon?" "No, never mind." "Why do you always stare at me?" "For the same reason you've been staring at me." "I don't know what you're talking about." "If you didn't, you'd be more astonished and much less angry." "So you know my name." "You've been advertising it loudly enough." "You'd better not be insolent." "I can have you fired at a moment's notice." " Shall I call the superintendent?" " No, of course not." "But since you know who I am, you'd better stop looking at me when I come here." "It might be misunderstood." "I don't think so." "Come in." "Good evening, Miss Francon." "You sent for me?" "Yes." "Would you like to make some extra money?" "Certainly, Miss Francon." "That marble piece is broken and has to be replaced." "I want you to take it out." "Yes, Miss Francon." "Now it's broken and has to be replaced." "Would you know what kind of marble this is and where to order a piece?" " Yes, Miss Francon." " Go ahead, then." "Take it out." "Yes, Miss Francon." "oh, I'm sorry." "You might have thought that I was laughing at you, but I wasn't, of course." "I didn't want to disturb you." "I'm sure you're anxious to finish and get out of here." "I mean, because you must be tired." "There must be things you'd like to talk about." "oh, well, yes, Miss Francon." "Well?" "I think this is an atrocious fireplace." "Really?" "This house was designed by my father." "There's no point in your discussing architecture." "None at all." "Shall we choose some other subject?" "Yes, Miss Francon." "Generally, there are three kinds of marble:" "The white, the onyx and the green." "This last must not be considered a true marble." "True marble is the metamorphic form of limestone produced by heat and pressure." "Pressure is a powerful factor." "It leads to consequences which, once started, cannot be controlled." "What consequences?" "The infiltration of foreign elements from the surrounding soil." "They form the colored streaks found in most marbles." "This is pure white marble." "You should be very careful, Miss Francon." "To accept nothing but a stone of the same quality." "This is Alabama marble, very high grade, very hard to find." "What shall I do with the stone?" "Leave it here." "I'll have it removed." "All right." "I'll order a new piece cut to measure and have it delivered to you." " Do you wish me to set it?" " Yes, certainly." "I'll let you know when it comes." "How much do I owe you?" "Keep the change." "Thank you, Miss Francon." " Good night." " Good night, Miss Francon." "Come in." "The man sent from the quarry, Miss Francon." "Who are you?" " Pasquale Orsini." " What do you want?" "The tall guy down at the quarry told me you got a fireplace you wanted me to fix." "Yes." "Yes, of course." "I forgot." "Go ahead." "Why didn't you come set the marble?" "I didn't think it would make any difference to you who came, or did it, Miss Francon?" "Good afternoon, Miss Francon." "How are you?" "There was a man you had here." "A tall, gaunt man who worked a drill." " Where is he?" " Yes, that one, he's gone." " Gone?" " Quit, left for New York, I think." " When?" " Two days ago." "What was his...?" "No." "No, I don't want to know his name." " If you want me to find him for you..." " No." "I don't know what to do." "I give up." "I've gone the limit." "I'm at my wit's end." " That's not going very far." " It's all right for you to make cracks." "But I'm in trouble." "We need some excitement to boost circulation." "I've got to invent a crusade and I don't know what on earth to crusade about." "We start a campaign against street car monopolies?" "We did that two years ago, then we had a crusade against canned vegetables." "And a crusade against Wall Street." "Now, what else is there to be against?" "You're a smart woman, couldn't you...?" " Sorry, I'm not good at that sort of thing." " Gail Wynand expects results." "The Banner's got to be active." "I've racked my brain, and I can't think of anything to denounce." " I can." " What?" "This." " Who cares about a building?" " My dear, it depends on how you handle it." "It's an outrage against art and a threat to public safety." "It might collapse any moment." " Nobody's ever used that structural method." " Yeah?" "The owner of it is Roger Enright, one of those self-made men." "Stubborn and rich as blazes." "It's always safe to denounce the rich." "Everyone will help you..." " The rich first." " Yeah." " Howard Roark, who is he?" " I wouldn't know." "Think what you could do with it." "A super-luxury apartment house going up and there's those poor people who live in the slums." "We could have some Sunday supplement stories about beautiful girls..." " ...who are victims of the slums." " With pictures in three-color process." "You've got something there." "You've got it." "It's a wonderful idea." "I know Wynand will okay it." "You know that this Enright House is a great building." "Perhaps one of the greatest." "Ellsworth, what are you after?" "I daresay nobody knows what I'm after." "They will, though." "When the time comes." "So we've got three wonderful angles:" "Highbrow stories about the bad art." "Scare stories about the girders collapsing." "Sob stories about the poor." "We get everybody riled up without any opposition." "Who'll want to defend it?" "It's only a building." " My first step would be..." " Don't bother with details." "It's good." "Go ahead." "Toohey can handle it." "What a surprise and what a lovely contrast to my usual visitors." "Please sit down." "You approved a campaign against the Enright House?" "Yes, of course." "It'll stir up a lot of noise." "I'm sailing next week." "I'll be gone all winter." "This will keep them busy." "Have you seen drawings of the Enright House?" "No." " Please send for them." " What for?" "That building is a magnificent architectural achievement." " Is that of no importance?" " None." "You're willing to destroy it to amuse the mob to give them something to scream about?" "That is the policy which has made the Banner the newspaper of largest circulation." "Don't expect me to change it." "You asked me once to tell you of something I wanted." "I've tried never to ask favors of anyone but I'm going to now." "Please call off this campaign." "Is the architect a friend of yours?" "I've never set eyes on him." "I don't know who he is nor care." "Why should you plead for that building?" "Because it's great." "There's so little in life that's noble or beautiful." "I'm pleading for a man's achievement." "I'm pleading for greatness." "Are you reproaching me for the Banner?" "I'm begging you, Mr. Wynand." "Dominique, I would give you anything I owned except the Banner." "My whole life and an unspeakable struggle have gone to make it." "I will not sacrifice it for anyone on earth." "It's your right to do as you wish." "It's mine to take no part in what you're doing." "Please accept my resignation from the Banner." "I'm sorry." "It's quite useless, my dear." "You can't fight me." "You have no chance." "I know it." "While so many are in need of shelter effort is being wasted to erect a structural monstrosity known as the Enright House." "It is designed by one Howard Roark, an incompetent amateur who has the arrogance to hold his own ideas above all rules." "You are architects and you should realize that a man like Howard Roark is a threat to all of you." "The conflict of forms is too great." "Can your buildings stand by the side of his?" "I believe you understand me, gentlemen." "If you'll sign a protest against the Enright House the Banner will be glad to publish it and we shall win because there are thousands of us thousands against one." "More of it." "Look." "Letters to the editor." "Thousands of them, all screaming against that Enright House." "Ellsworth, you're wonderful." "How could you ever foresee a public trend so well?" " Roark." " Mr. Enright." "Thanks." " Don't pay attention to that public howling." " I don't." "I've been denounced so much, it doesn't bother me anymore." "I started out in life as a coal miner." "Got where I am by acting on my own honest judgment whether others liked it or not." "When you grow older, you'll see that's the only way to succeed." " I know it." " They're tough." "They're gonna get tougher, don't worry." " You'll win." " I have." " That's the only defense you need." " I'll rest on the evidence." "That's exactly what I'm going to do." "I'll be the first tenant to move in." "I'll give a party to celebrate the opening of Enright House." "I'll invite them:" "The press, the architects, the critics." "Let them see." "They think we're gonna apologize." "We'll celebrate instead." "I have nothing to say about this building." "God gave you eyes and a mind to use." "If you fail to do so, the loss is yours not mine." "Don't you want to convince me?" "Is there any reason why that should be my concern?" "I dread to think of the fate of Howard Roark, whoever he is." " Why?" "You don't think he's good?" " He's too good." " Dominique." " Hello, Peter." "What a pleasure to see you again." "You look more beautiful than ever." "What do you think of this building?" "I'm taking a poll of the guests..." " A what?" " A poll of opinion about it." "What for?" "In order to find out what you think of it yourself?" "We have to consider public opinion, don't we?" "No, don't ever hire an architect who's a genius." " I don't like geniuses." "They're dangerous." " How?" "A man abler than his brothers insults them by implication." "He must not aspire to any virtue which cannot be shared." "I wouldn't know about that intellectual stuff." "I play the stock market." "I play the stock market of the spirit and I sell short." "It's stunning, perfectly stunning, but I wouldn't want to live in a house like this." "one could never relax and feel homey." "You know what I mean." " Comfortable and sloppy and, well, homey." " No, one couldn't." " Dominique." " Yes, Father." "I can't understand how my own daughter can approve of this mess." "This is such uncivilized taste." "Are you going to defend it?" "No, I won't try to defend it." "Mr. Francon, that stairway, it's not bad." "It's a clever idea." "I'm designing a building right now where I can use an idea like this and I'd have to adapt it, of course." "Well, if one gave it some elegance..." "You know, a touch of Greek ornament." "The engineering idea is brilliant." "I could use it myself." "Hello." "I've been waiting for you." "You're the guest of honor tonight, in more than just the social sense." "Whom do you want to meet first?" "There's Dominique Francon looking at us." "Come on." "Miss Francon, may I present Howard Roark?" "You're..." " ..." "Howard Roark?" " Yes, Miss Francon." "You don't know it, but Miss Francon has a connection with you." "She resigned from the Banner to protest their attack on your building." " How did you know that?" " I heard about it." " I didn't want Mr. Roark to know it." " Why not, Miss Francon?" "It was a perfectly futile gesture on my part." "Dominique won't admit it, but she admires your buildings." "She understands them." " I expected her to understand them." " Did you?" " But you didn't know me." " I used to read your column, Miss Francon." "I admire your work more than anything I've ever seen." "You may realize that this is not a tie, but a gulf between us if you remember what you read in my column." "I remember every line of it." "I wish I had never seen your building." "It's the things that we admire or want that enslave us, I'm not easy to bring into submission." "That depends upon the strength of your adversary, Miss Francon." "Well?" "Roger, why did you bring him here?" "Why did you deliver him to these people?" "Don't you see he doesn't have a chance against them?" "Come in." "I expected you to come here." "I didn't know your name." "You knew mine." "But you haven't tried to find me in all these months." "I wanted you to find me and have to come to me." "If it gives you pleasure that you're breaking me down I'll give you a greater satisfaction." "I love you, Roark." "Would it please you to hear that I've lived in torture all these months hoping never to find you, wishing to give my life just to see you once more?" "But you knew that, of course." "That's what you wanted me to live through." " Yes." " Why don't you laugh at me now?" "You won." "I have no pride left to stop me." "I love you without dignity, without regret." "I came to tell you this and to tell you that you'll never see me again." "You want to know whether you can make me suffer, don't you?" "You can." "Roark, you're everything I've always wanted." "And that's why I hoped I'd never meet anyone like you." "I'll give you up now myself rather than watch you destroyed by a world where you have no chance." " Why are you afraid?" " I know what they'll do to you." "You had the genius that made the Enright House." "But you were working like a convict in a granite quarry." " I chose to do it." " Why?" "Don't you know why?" "Yes." "Because you won't conform." "They'll drive you down again." "Stone quarry's all you can expect." " I got out of the quarry." " Did you?" "Do you think the Enright House is your beginning?" "It's your death sentence." "Has any other client come to you?" "No." "They won't." "They hate you for the greatness of your achievement." "They hate you for your integrity." "They hate you because they know they can neither corrupt you nor rule you." "They won't let you survive." "Roark, they'll destroy you." "But I won't be there to see it happen." "Do you want to leave me?" "I've loved you from the first moment I saw you, and you knew it." "You tried to escape from it." "I had to let you learn to accept it." "Are you gonna leave me?" "Yes." "I won't stop you." "Roark, don't you see?" "I don't want to leave you." "Will you marry me?" "I want to stay with you." "We'll take a house in some small town, I'll keep it for you." "Don't laugh." "I can." "I'll cook, I'll wash your clothes, I'll scrub the floor and you'll give up architecture." "If you give it up, I'll remain with you forever but I can't bear to stand by and see you moving to some terrible disaster." "It can't end any other way." "Save yourself from tragedy." "Take a meaningless job." "We'll live only for each other." "I wish I could tell you it was a temptation." "Roark, yes or no?" "No." "You must learn not to be afraid of the world, not to take any notice." "I must let you learn it." "When you have, you'll come back to me." "They won't destroy me, Dominique." "I'll wait for you." "I love you." "I'm saying it now for all the years we'll have to wait." "I'd do anything to escape from you." "I could've expected anything on my return except to see you coming here to meet me." "If I wanted to delude myself, I'd think you were impatient to see me." " I was." " I'm very happy, my dear no matter your reason." "I'm honest enough to warn you, you shouldn't be." "I realize that." "What was your reason?" "If you found another request to make of me, I like to be able to grant it." "No." "I didn't come to make a request but to grant you one of yours." "You still wish me to marry you?" "More than anything I was ever capable of wishing." "I'll marry you." " Don't you want to ask me any questions?" " No." "Thank you." "You're making it easier for me." "Whatever your reason, I shall accept it." "What I want to find in our marriage will remain my own concern." "I exact no promises and impose no obligations." "Incidentally, since it is of no importance to you, I love you." "No, Mr. Roark, there is too much talk and public resentment against you." "We can't take part in controversies." "We can't afford to arouse antagonism." "I'm sorry, but we find it impossible to give you the commission for our building." "As one of our directors said, "You can't expect us to stick our necks out."" "No, and I don't expect it." "Hello, Mr. Roark." "I hoped I'd meet you someday, like this, alone." " You shouldn't mind talking to me." " What about?" "There's a building that should've been yours." "There are buildings going up all over the city, chances refused to you and given to fools." "You're walking the streets while they do the work you love but cannot obtain." "This city is closed to you." "It is I who have done it." " Don't you want to know my motive?" " No." "I'm fighting you, and I shall fight you in every way I can." " You're free to do what you please." " Mr. Roark, we're alone here." "Why don't you tell me what you think of me in any words you wish?" "But I don't think of you." "It's great, Mr. Roark." "It's wonderful." "Ever since I saw the Enright House, I knew you were the man I wanted." "But I was afraid you wouldn't do an unimportant gas station for me after doing skyscrapers." "No building is unimportant." "I'll build for any man who wants me." "Anywhere, so long as I build my way." "Your career has been as unprecedented as your buildings." "I never knew anybody to survive one of the Banner's smear campaigns." "Everything was against you." "How'd you break through?" " What'd you think of the Banner's campaign?" " It was a vicious appeal to fools." "Haven't you answered your own question?" "But you had years torn out of your life, wasted by the Banner." "No." "All these years, I've found some one man who wanted my work one man who saw through his own eyes and thought with his own brain." "Such men may be rare, they may be unknown, but they move the world." " How did you look for them?" " I didn't." "They called for me." "Any man who calls for me is my kind of man." "This is probably something very big." "I made an appointment for you, 3:00 this afternoon at his office." " Whose office?" " He telephoned half an hour ago." "Mr. Gail Wynand." " I don't think you'll want to work for me." " Why?" "You ought to feel contempt for me if you've seen the kind of buildings I put up." " You're honest, aren't you?" " Thank you." "That's the first time anyone said that about me and it's one of the few times when I am." "What I want you to build is not for the public." "It's for me." " What is it?" " My home..." "A country house just for my wife and me." "Did Mrs. Wynand choose me for the job?" "No, Mrs. Wynand doesn't know anything about this." "It's my own project." "I've looked at buildings all over the country." "Every time I saw one that I liked and asked who designed it, the answer was always Howard Roark." "I want you to know that I have very little respect for anything on earth." "The only thing I worship, and I've seen so little of it in life is man's ability to produce work such as yours." "I believe you." "Why do you say that as if it hurt you?" "It doesn't." "Don't hold them against me, the things I've built." "Those worthless commercial structures and papers like the Banner made it possible for me to have a house by you." "They're the means, you're the end." "Don't apologize for your past." "It isn't necessary." "You do have courage, don't you?" "No one else would dare say that to me." "But you're right." "I was apologizing." "You see, I need you." "That house means a great deal to me, and you're the only one who can design it." "What kind of a house do you want?" "Far from the city." "I bought the land." "A place in Connecticut, 500 acres." "What kind of a house?" "The cost, whatever you need." "The appearance, whatever you wish." "The purpose..." "You see, I want this house because I'm very desperately in love with my wife." "What's the matter?" "You think that's irrelevant?" "No." "Go on." "I can't stand to see my wife among other people." "It's not jealousy." "It's much more and much worse." "I can't share her with anyone or anything." "I want a house that will be only mine and hers." "Think of it as you would think of a fortress and of a temple." "A temple to Dominique Wynand." "I want you to meet her before you design it." "I've met Mrs. Wynand some years ago." " You have?" "Then you understand." " I do." "Start work at once." "Drop anything else you're doing." "I'll pay whatever..." "Forgive me." "Too much association with bad architects." "I haven't asked you whether you wanna do it." "Yes." "I'll do it." " What's the matter, Gail?" " Good evening, dear." "Why?" " You look as if you felt happy." " I feel as if I were young as I did when I was starting and believed the road ahead was clean and honesty was possible." " You want it to be possible?" " Yes." "I never realized how much I wanted to find it." "Dominique, you look very beautiful tonight." "No." "That's not what I wanted to say." "It's this:" "I feel for the first time that I have a right to you." " You thought you hadn't?" " No, and that I'd never earn it." "But now I believe nothing will take you away from me..." "Nothing and no one." " I don't love you, Gail." " I know it but you'd never loved anyone else." " What makes you think so?" " It wouldn't be like you." "You'd never surrender to anyone, but you don't hate me any longer." "No." "I've found we have a great deal in common, you and I." "We both had strength, but not courage." "We've committed the same kind of treason some way." "If I have, I feel as if I've been forgiven tonight." " Why?" " I don't know." "You've always wanted to escape from the world." "Would you like to live in the country, away from everything..." " ... away from the Banner?" " Yes." "Yes, I would." "I'm having a house designed for us." "It will be my greatest gift to you." "If I've been guilty in my life, this house will vindicate me." " Who is designing it?" " The only man of genius I ever met." "His name is Howard Roark." "Gail." "Do you happen to remember why I resigned from the Banner?" "It was because of a campaign against the Enright House." "Just one of the Banner's smear campaigns!" "Not important enough to remember, was it, Gail?" "You staged so many of them." "You were away on your yacht." "He was just some architect whom you threw to the mob." "It built circulation." "Didn't it, Gail?" "When I spoke to him, he didn't remind me of it." "Why should he?" "He knows he's won." "He could afford to be generous." "I don't accept generosity." "I never thought he could win against you, but he has." "Maybe we're wrong about the world, you and I." "He's the one who's earned the right to despise us." "Has he?" "That's a right I'll never grant to anyone on earth." "There are no men of integrity, are there?" "Well, you've met one." "There aren't." "He's not any better than the rest of us." " What if he is?" " If he were, I'd break him." "Nobody can break him." "I'll find out." "Why did you accept this commission?" "Don't you hate me?" "No." "Why should I?" " Do you want me to speak of it first?" " Of what?" "The Enright House." "You had forgotten that, hadn't you?" "Let it remain forgotten." "I know what the Banner has done to you, but I stand by every word..." " ... in the Banner." " I haven't asked you to retract it." "Mr. Roark, I was away at the time of that campaign but my editor was doing what I had taught him." "Had I been in town, I'd have done the same." " That was your privilege." " You don't believe I would have done it." " No." " I haven't asked you for compliments or for pity." "Sit down." "I wish to sign a contract to make you sole architect for all the future buildings I may erect." "If you accept, you will make a fortune." "If you refuse, I will see to it that you never build again." "You may have heard." "I don't like to be refused." "I want you to design my future commercial structures as the public wishes them to be designed." "You will build colonial houses, Rococo hotels and semi-Grecian office buildings." "You will take your spectacular talent and make it subservient to the taste of the masses." "That is what I want." "of course." "I'll be glad to do it." "It's easy." "This what you want?" "Good heavens, no." "Then shut up and don't ever let me hear any architectural suggestions." "I didn't think anyone would waste time trying to tempt me again." " I meant it until I saw that." " I knew you meant it." "You were taking a terrible chance." "Not at all." "I had an ally I could trust." " What, your integrity?" " Yours, Gail." "Why do you think that about me?" "Why don't you admit to yourself what we both knew the moment we met?" " What?" " That we are alike, you and I." "You're saying it about Gail Wynand of the New York Banner?" "I'm saying it." "Gail Wynand of Hell's Kitchen who had the strength and spirit to rise by his own effort but who made a bad mistake about the way he chose." "No." "You shouldn't deal with me." "You shouldn't remain here." " You wish to throw me out?" " You know I can't." "Shall I tell you now what I think of this?" "You told me." "I'll take this drawing home to show my wife." "I want her to see it and to thank you in person." "Will you come and have dinner with us tonight?" "Will you?" "Yes." " Howard." " Good evening, Gail." "You two know each other." " How do you do, Mr. Roark?" " And you, Mrs. Wynand?" "Thank you for the house you designed for us." "It's one of your most beautiful." "If you like it, I've fulfilled your husband's order." "What was the order?" "To design a house as a temple to you, Mrs. Wynand." "Shall I accept it as a tribute from Gail or from you?" "From both of us." "I appreciate it." "Particularly since I would have expected you to refuse the commission." "Why?" "Was there nothing in your past to make you refuse it?" " No." " Thank you, Howard." "I never expected you to forget and give in." "Isn't Mr. Roark the man you said you'd break?" "I tried it and lost." "Are you admitting defeat?" "Both of you?" "Do you wish to call it that?" "I think it was a victory for both of us." "Your feeling, once granted will you ever withdraw it?" "Never." "Have you studied the floor plans of the house?" "I should like to know whether the arrangement of the rooms is convenient." " The rooms?" " Yes." "The living room..." " ...will open to a terrace over the lake." " Did you notice the windows of our room?" " We'll get the first sunlight in the morning." " You think I could ever live in that house?" " Why not?" " I can't." "Please." " Don't ask me to live in it." " Why not?" "Dominique, what is it?" "Nothing." "only the constant reminder." " After the Enright House, we have no right." " Please, forget the Enright House." "Yes, Mr. Roark." "I wouldn't be so frightened if I could understand." "What have I done?" " Why did it happen?" " What are you whining about?" "There's no use kidding myself." "I've been slipping ever since Guy Francon retired." "I've had less work each year." "People are dropping me." "Why?" "You were a fashion, Peter." "Fashions change." "But I was at the top." "Why did I fall like that without any reason?" "Don't be astonished, ask yourself, is there any reason for you to be at the top?" "But you used to say I was the greatest architect living." "Well, I could have had two reasons for saying it." "Maybe I wanted to honor you and maybe I wanted to dishonor and discredit all greatness." "I..." "I thought you were my friend." "of course, I'm everybody's friend." "I'm the friend of humanity." "Now, why did you come here?" "What do you want?" "Cortlandt Homes." "You're not serious." "If I could get a great project to design like Cortlandt Homes, it would save my reputation." "But Cortlandt Homes is to be the greatest of all housing projects." "A model development for the whole world." "You can help me, Ellsworth." "You have influence on that project with those people." "Don't forget that this is not a Wynand project." "I'm only an unofficial adviser to them." "As an expert in architecture, nothing else." "But just a word of recommendation from you." "But, Peter, do you imagine you could design Cortlandt?" "They haven't found anyone able to do it." "They're stuck." "Do you know the big problem in housing?" "Economy." "How to design a building that would rent at the lowest price possible." "Cortlandt Homes has to be the most brilliant product of planning ingenuity and structural economy ever achieved." "Do you think you could do that?" "Well, I could try." "I'd do my best." "Your best won't do it, Peter." "But you may try if you wish." "Here's all the dope on Cortlandt." "Work out a preliminary scheme." "Solve the problem." "I'll submit it and push it for all I'm worth." "You will let me try." "All our best architects have tried and failed." "Nothing can be done in life without an idea." "My friends have the land, the money, the material but not the man to originate the idea." "Howard, I'm a parasite." "I've been a parasite all my life." "You helped me with my projects in school." "Everything I've built was stolen from you and men like you before us." "I've never had an idea of my own." "I've fed on you and hated you for it and I've come here to ask you to save me." " Go on." " Cortlandt is my last chance." "I know I can't do it." "I've tried." "I've come to beg you as I did in school to design it for me." "To design it and let me put my name on it." "Well, there's no reason you should want to do it." "If you can solve their problem, go to them and obtain the commission." " Do you think I could get past Toohey?" " No." "No, you couldn't." "He's not the only one." "I'll never be given a job by any group, board, council, or committee but I would like to do this job." "You'd design Cortlandt for me?" "I might if you offer me enough." "Howard, anything you ask." "Anything." "Name a motive that would make me want to do it." "There's no reason why you should save me." " No." " But it's a humanitarian project." "Think of the people in the slums." "If you can give them decent housing, you'd perform a noble deed." "Would you do it just for their sake?" "No." "The man who works for others without payment is a slave." "I do not believe that slavery is noble." "Not in any form, nor for any purpose whatsoever." "Is there any kind of payment I can offer you?" "Yes, there is." "Now, listen to me." "I've worked on the problem of low-rent construction for years." "I've thought of the new inventions, the new materials the great possibilities never used to build cheaply, simply, and intelligently." "I loved it because it was a problem I wanted to solve." "Yes." "I understand." "Peter, before you can do things for people you must be the kind of man who can get things done." "But to get things done, you must love the doing, not the people." "Your own work, not any possible object of your charity." "I'll be glad if men who need it find a better manner of living in a house I build but that's not the motive of my work, nor my reason, nor my reward." "My reward, my purpose, my life is the work itself." "My work done my way." "Nothing else matters to me." "I've always wanted to build a large-scale project but I..." "I never hoped to get the chance." "Now, here's what I'll offer you." "I will design Cortlandt." "You'll put your name on it." "You will keep all the fees, but you will guarantee that it will be built exactly as I design it." " I see." " No changes by you or by anyone else." "That's the payment I demand for my work." "My ideas are mine." "Nobody else has a right to them except on my terms." "Those who need them must take them my way or not at all." "All right, Howard." "I guarantee it." "I give you my word." "Everybody would say you're a fool." "That I'm getting everything." "You'll get everything that society can give." "You'll take the money, the fame and the gratitude and I'll take that which nobody can give a man except himself." "I will have built Cortlandt." ""After two years of futile attempts to solve the problems involved the design submitted by Peter Keating is an astonishingly skillful solution that provides the best living quarters yet devised at the lowest cost. "" " What on earth are you up to?" " What do you mean?" "Do you think I pick artworks by their signatures?" "Who designed that project?" "Peter Keating." "Who designed this?" " Of course." " What are you after?" " Drop it." " All right." "I won't try to guess your motive but I'd know your work anywhere." "Howard, I never expected to feel gratitude to anyone but I'm grateful to you every moment of the day in the house you built." "I'm learning so many things I never expected to feel." " What?" " The wonder of ownership." "I'm a millionaire who's never owned anything." "I've been public property like a city billboard." "But this is mine." "Here I'm safe." "Why didn't you come here yesterday?" "I missed you." " Too much work in the office." " You're killing yourself." " You've worked too hard for years." " Haven't you?" "Yes." "We need a rest, both of us." "My yacht's been refitted." "I'm planning a long cruise." "I've meant to for years." "Go with me." "Gail, is this an obsession?" "What is Mr. Roark to you?" "My youth." " Is he what you were in your youth?" " Oh, no, much more than that." "What I thought I'd be when I was 16." "I'm sure Mr. Roark can't go on a yacht cruise." "Why, yes, Mrs. Wynand, I'd be glad to go." "I thought, that you'd never give up your work for anyone." "I won't give it up." "I'll take my first vacation." "You're willing to be away for months?" "I'd enjoy it." "It's incredible." "I believe you're jealous." "Wonderful!" "I'm even more grateful to you if he's made you jealous of me." "Now, don't frown." "I'll fix a drink." "We'll toast the cruise." "Roark." "Roark, don't go with him." "I can't stand this much longer." "I am jealous of you and of every moment you give him, of your impossible friendship." " I don't want you to come here or like him." " I don't want to discuss it, Mrs. Wynand." "Howard, that's where I was born, Hell's Kitchen." "I own most of it now." "All those blocks." "I decided when I was 16 that that's where the Wynand building would stand and that it'd be the tallest structure of the city." "What's the matter?" "Do you want to build it?" " Do you want it pretty badly?" " I think I'd almost give my life for it." " Is that what you wanted?" " Something like that." "I won't demand your life, but it's nice to shock you." "I'll start to build it in a few years." "Do you know how much it means to me?" " Yes." "I know what you want." " A monument to my life, Howard." "After I'm gone, that building will be Gail Wynand." "My last and greatest achievement will also be your greatest." "The Wynand building by Howard Roark." "I've waited for it from the day I was born." "From the day you were born you've waited for your one great chance." "There it is, on the site of Hell's Kitchen." "Yours from me." "Please, Mr. Keating, do let us stop arguing." "We've engaged Mr. Prescott and Mr. Webb as your associate designers." " What for?" " Well, it's such a tremendous project." "You can afford to share the credit with two fellow architects who need a job." "Don't be selfish." "Besides, three minds are better than one." "But you've accepted my design." "Yes, of course." "It's excellent, but we must make some improvements." " What improvements?" " Well, the thing's too bare." "We ought to add a few balconies." "Balconies?" "What for?" "To give it a human touch." "We got to have some kind of trimming over the entrance." "I won't allow it." "It's my building." "It's my design." "But why shouldn't we have any say at all?" "We want to express our individuality too." "on another man's work?" "What the heck?" "Any man's work is public property." "I can't let you." "Don't you understand?" "I can't." "Well, Peter, why not?" "What's the matter?" "You've never fought with your clients before." " Is there anything different in this case?" " They're ruining the building." " Oh, I suppose so." " What do you care?" "You made a contract with me that Cortlandt would be built exactly as I designed it, I did it only on that condition." " What's a contract?" " You're old-fashioned, Keating." " But I have a contract." " What are you going to do about it?" "Sue us?" "Go ahead." "Try it." "You'll find that you can't sue us." "But you had no right to do this!" " What are rights, Peter?" " Whose rights?" "oh, what's the use of talking?" "Let's go to work." "I couldn't help it, Howard." "They started making changes without reason." "Everybody had authority and nobody." "I tried to fight." "They pushed me from office to office." " I couldn't help it." " I suppose not." "I had no way to reach you." "I was waiting for you to come back." "I was afraid." "What are you going to do?" "They've got such a setup, you can't sue them." " No." " Want me to confess the truth?" " To everybody?" " No." "Will you let me give you all the money they paid me?" "I'm sorry." "Howard." "What are you going to do?" "You have to leave that up to me now." "Why did you come here?" "Because I couldn't stand it any longer." "You've been away for months." "I had to see you again..." "To see you alone." "Please go." "Roark, do I mean nothing to you?" "I can't answer you now." "You stayed away from me for years." "I tried to forget you." "I couldn't." " You knew I never would." " Yes." "I never thought it'd be Gail who'd bring you back to me." "Don't you see why I can't stand it now?" "Living in a house you designed, seeing you constantly as a stranger having no right to look at you, to tell you that I..." "Don't say it." "Do you remember?" "You said once that you..." "For all the years we'll have to wait." "Roark, I know that you've known what I felt all these years." "We can never change it, neither one of us." "I'm going to leave Gail." "You may refuse to see me again, but I'm going to leave him." "Before you leave him will you help me with a problem of my own?" " Yes." " Will you do it without asking questions?" "Yes, Roark, anything you want." "You've seen Cortlandt Homes?" "Yes." "I know what they've done to your work." "Next Monday night, I want you to drive up to the side of Cortlandt." "You must be alone in your car." "You must make it appear you were an innocent bystander..." "Roark, I know what you're going to do." "This is a test, isn't it?" "Can I equal your courage, am I still afraid for you can I help you take the most terrible chance you've ever...?" "You can guess anything you wish." "Just listen." "When I finish don't tell me whether you will help me or not." "If you decide to do it, say nothing but let me see you do it." "All right." "Go on." "Drive up to Cortlandt Monday night at 11:30." "I ran out of gas." "May I use your telephone, please?" "I'm sorry, ma'am, but our phone's gone dead tonight." "Where is the nearest garage?" "Way down the road." "Would you mind going there and getting somebody to help me?" "Sure will, young lady." "Glad to." "What do you know about this?" "Arrest me." "I'll talk at the trial." "We don't have to wait for the trial to convict him." "Howard Roark is guilty by his very nature." "It is whispered that he designed Cortlandt." " What if he did?" " Society needed a housing project." "It was his duty to sacrifice his own desires and to contribute any ideas we demanded of him on any terms we chose." "Who is society?" "We are." "Man can be permitted to exist only in order to serve others." "He must be nothing but a tool for the satisfaction of their needs." "Self-sacrifice is the law of our age." "The man who refuses to submit and to serve..." "Howard Roark, the supreme egoist..." "Is a man who must be destroyed!" "We have never learned to understand what is greatness in man." "Self-sacrifice, we drool, is the ultimate virtue." "Let's stop and think." "Can a man sacrifice his integrity his rights, his freedom his convictions, the honesty of his feeling, the independence of his thought?" "These are a man's supreme possessions." "To what must he sacrifice them?" "To whom?" "Self-sacrifice?" "But it is precisely the self that cannot and must not be sacrificed." "A man's self is his spirit." "It is the unsacrificed self that we must respect in man above all and where do we find it?" "In a man like Howard Roark." "Have that run off and set up on tomorrow's front page." "Yes, Mr. Wynand." "Gail, are you out of your mind, defending that...?" "Keep still or I'll bash your teeth in." "The whole city is against him." "An unpopular cause is dangerous business for anyone." "For a popular newspaper, it's suicide!" " Public opinion is responsible..." " Public opinion is what I make it." "For once, I'll fight for what I believe." "You'll stand alone against everybody for the first time in your life?" "Yes, for the first time in my life." "You fool, why did you have to make such a good job of it?" "Didn't you know broken glass is dangerous?" " It didn't hurt." " The next time you wanna play the innocent bystander let me coach you." "You didn't have to cut an artery." "Do the police believe that I was only an innocent bystander?" "Yes, they believe it." "They have to." "You almost died." "They don't know that you'd risk your life for him." " For whom?" " Howard." "Haven't you always fought for his work?" "I'm glad you did it and that it was for him." "I'm glad he did it." " He had to." " Yes." " Have they arrested him?" " He's out on bail." " What's he told them?" " Nothing." "He's refused to make any statement." "They all say he's guilty, but they can find no motive." "They think he designed Cortlandt..." " ...but they can't prove it." " Is the public against him?" "It's the worst storm of public fury I've ever seen." " Are all the newspapers against him?" " Except one." "Gail, if you'll stand by him today" "Don't offer me bribes." "It's a battle I've waited for all my life." "I know how much I have to redeem." "This will be my redemption." "This time, the Banner is serving a crusade." "I was waiting for you to come." " Do you want to ask me any questions now?" " No." "I may be sent to the penitentiary for years." "Does that frighten you?" "No." "I'll share whatever they do to you." "I failed you once because I was afraid to see you suffer." "Now I'll stand by you openly." "I'll take the disgrace, the scandal, the smears, anything." "Darling." "Yes." "You're Mrs. Gail Wynand." "You're above suspicion." "Everybody believes you were at the scene by accident." "If you let it be known what we mean to each other it'll be a confession that I did it." "Is that why you asked me to help you?" "In order to stop me from joining you now?" "Yes." "Dominique, if I'm convicted I want you to remain with Gail." "And you must not tell him about us because he and you will need each other." "All right, if that's what you want but if you're acquitted?" "We can't speak of that now." "You'll be acquitted." "That's not what I wanted to hear you say." "If they convict you if they lock you in jail, if they never let you design another building if they never let me see you again it won't break me." "I know how to fight it." "I'm not afraid of them any longer." "That's what I wanted to hear all these years." " Who designed Cortlandt?" " Let me alone." " It's too late, Peter." " Let me go!" " Who designed Cortlandt?" " Why do you want to kill Roark?" "I don't want to kill him." "I want him in jail, behind bars, locked, strapped, beaten." "He'll move as he's told." "He'll work as he's told." " He'll obey." "He'll take orders." " Ellsworth, what are you after?" "Power." "What do you think is power?" "Whips?" "Guns?" "Money?" "You can't turn men into slaves unless you break their spirit." "Kill their capacity to think and act on their own." "Tie them together, teach them to conform, to unite, to agree, to obey." "That makes one neck ready for one leash." "Ellsworth." "You've heard me preaching it for years but you didn't have the wits to know what you were hearing." "Why do you suppose I denounced greatness and praised mediocrities like you?" "Great men can't be ruled." "Why did I preach self-sacrifice?" "If you kill a man's sense of personal value, he'll submit." "Can you do that to Howard Roark?" "No?" "Then don't ask me why I want to destroy him." "That's what they mean, your noble ideals." "You believed in me." "Well, what's left of you now?" "Come on." "Who designed Cortlandt?" "Howard Roark." "on what condition?" "That it must be built as he designed it." "Write it down." "Write a full confession." "You're a great success, Peter." "You're my best achievement." "A totally selfless man." "Selfish?" "Is that what they call me?" "Well I am." "I live by the judgment of my own mind and for my own sake." "Let them say what they please." "By the time you come to trial, no jury will convict you." "The public will think what I want them to think." "The Banner will save you." "Dominique, do you see why I love the Banner?" "I hold power." "Are you sure of it, Gail?" "You'll see the demonstration for yourself." "I rule that city." "I've never lost a battle." "It's your first test of a real issue, which..." " Hello?" " Gail Wynand, please." " Speaking." " Gail, this is Alvah." "Yes, Alvah?" "Keating has admitted Roark designed Cortlandt." " Toohey has a signed confession." " What?" "It made the front page of the other daily so we had to go along." "Stay there." "I'll come at once." "What is it?" "Ellsworth Toohey got a confession from Peter Keating." "It's on the front pages tomorrow, including the Banner." "I'm not counting on public opinion one way or the other so don't be afraid for me." "I'll fight for you if it takes everything I own." "When I can't fire anyone on my paper, I'll close it and blow your brains out or mine." "They've walked out on us." "The whole city room." "our best boys." "They're Toohey's best friends." " They won't work without him." " Ellsworth Toohey is fired and stays fired." "I can't understand how Ellsworth got so much power." "I never noticed it but he got his gang in little by little and now he owns them." " And I own the Banner." " Do you, Mr. Wynand?" "So you were after power, Mr. Wynand and you thought you were a practical man." "You left to impractical intellectuals like me the whole field of ideas to corrupt as we please while you were busy making money." "You thought money was power." "Is it, Mr. Wynand?" "You poor amateur." "You've never been enough of a scoundrel for your own ambition." "That's why I'll be back on this job and when I am, I'll run this paper." "When you are." "Now get out of here." " How clever, my dear." " Yes, it is, isn't it?" "We must do what we can for the cause." "I just fired my cook because I caught her reading the Banner." "Gail, what are we gonna do?" "I can't get anyone." "They refuse, no matter what salary I offer." "Nobody wants to work for the Banner." "Nobody wants to read it." "How long can we go on like this?" "To the end." "Gail, give me back my old job." "I shall be proud to work for the Banner now." "Come on." "Take these to the back room, pick up the wire flimsies and bring them." "Then report to Manning at the city desk." " All returns, eh?" " Yup." "Gives me the creeps." "Looks just like slabs in the cemetery." "And they keep growing every night." "Guess nobody buys the Banner anymore." "They're killing themselves." "Work night and day and still newspapers come back unread." "Ready with it, Mrs. Wynand?" "There's the Sunday makeup." "It's fairly rotten, but it'll have to do." "I sent Manning home." "He was going to collapse." "Jackson quit, but we can do without him." "Alvah's column was a mess." "I rewrote it." "Don't tell him." "Say Gail did." "All right." "It'll be all right, Gail." "It will be all right." "The Banner is not helping Howard." "It's ruining him." "It's turning more people against him." "He doesn't care about that but stand by him." " Don't give in to them." " I can't save him." "He'll win in his own way." "I can't save him." "I have no power." "I never had any power." "Nobody's ever listened to me because nobody's ever respected me." "I wasn't a ruler of the mob." "I was its tool." "If you don't give in, you'll save yourself and the Banner." "I never ran the Banner." "They did." "The men in the street." "It was their paper, not mine." "There's nothing to save now." "Gail, don't give in to them." "Don't give in." "You'd better give in." "We can't permit this to go on." "After all, we're your board of directors." "We have something to say." "We've lost all our advertisers we've lost our public, for what?" "Now, if it were a serious cause, but for some fool dynamiter?" "What is this, an intellectual issue?" "Are we losing our shirts for principles or something?" "Gail, Gail, it's no use." "We must call Ellsworth Toohey and take him back." "We must reverse our stand on the Cortlandt case." "We must come out against Roark." "Wynand, this is final." "Yes or no?" "Give in or close the Banner." "You'd better give in." "All right." "I solemnly ask of every man who hears this case to let his own mind pronounce a verdict upon it." "You have heard the testimony of the state's witnesses." "The confession of Peter Keating has made clear that Howard Roark is a ruthless egoist who has destroyed Cortlandt Homes for his own selfish motive." "The issue which you are to decide is the crucial issue of our age:" "Has man any right to exist if he refuses to serve society?" "Let your verdict give us the answer." "The state rests." "The defense may proceed." "Your Honor, I shall call no witnesses." "This will be my testimony and my summation." " Take the oath." " Do you swear to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth..." " ...so help you God?" " I do." "Thousands of years ago the first man discovered how to make fire." "He was probably burned at the stake, he taught his brothers to light." "But he left them a gift they had not conceived." "And he lifted darkness off the earth." "Throughout the centuries, there were men who took first steps down new roads armed with nothing but their own vision." "The great creators, the thinkers, the artists, the scientists, the inventors stood alone against the men of their time." "Every new thought was opposed every new invention was denounced but the men of unborrowed vision went ahead." "They fought, they suffered and they paid, but they won." "No creator was prompted by a desire to please his brothers." "His brothers hated the gift he offered." "His truth was his only motive." "His work was his only goal." "His work, not those who used it his creation, not the benefits others derived from it the creation which gave form to his truth." "He held his truth above all things and against all men." "He went ahead whether others agreed with him or not with his integrity as his only banner." "He served nothing and no one." "He lived for himself and only by living for himself was he able to achieve the things which are the glory of mankind." "Such is the nature of achievement." "Man cannot survive, except through his mind." "He comes on earth unarmed." "His brain is his only weapon, but the mind is an attribute of the individual." "There is no such thing as a collective brain." "The man who thinks must think and act on his own." "The reasoning mind cannot work under any form of compulsion." "It cannot be subordinated to the needs, opinions, or wishes of others." "It is not an object of sacrifice." "The creator stands on his own judgment." "The parasite follows the opinions of others." "The creator thinks." "The parasite copies." "The creator produces." "The parasite loots." "The creator's concern is the conquest of nature." "The parasite's concern is the conquest of men." "The creator requires independence." "He neither serves nor rules." "He deals with men by free exchange and voluntary choice." "The parasite seeks power." "He wants to bind all men together in common action and common slavery." "He claims that man is only a tool for the use of others that he must think as they think act as they act and live in selfless, joyless servitude to any need but his own." "Look at history." "Everything we have, every great achievement has come from the independent work of some independent mind." "Every horror and destruction came from attempts to force men into a herd of brainless, soulless robots." "Without personal rights without personal ambition without will, hope or dignity." "It is an ancient conflict." "It has another name." "The individual against the collective." "our country, the noblest country in the history of men was based on the principle of individualism." "The principle of man's inalienable rights." "It was a country where a man was free to seek his own happiness." "To gain and produce, not to give up and renounce." "To prosper, not to starve." "To achieve, not to plunder." "To hold as his highest possession a sense of his personal value and as his highest virtue his self-respect." "Look at the results." "That is what the collectivists are now asking you to destroy as much of the earth has been destroyed." "I am an architect." "I know what is to come by the principle on which it is built." "We are approaching a world in which I cannot permit myself to live." "My ideas are my property." "They were taken from me by force, by breach of contract." "No appeal was left to me." "It was believed that my work belonged to others to do with as they pleased." "They had a claim upon me without my consent that it was my duty to serve them without choice or reward." "Now you know why I dynamited Cortlandt." "I designed Cortlandt I made it possible I destroyed it." "I agreed to design it for the purpose of seeing it built as I wished." "That was the price I set for my work." "I was not paid." "My building was disfigured at the whim of others who took the benefits of my work and gave me nothing in return." "I came here to say that I do not recognize anyone's right to one minute of my life." "Nor to any part of my energy, nor to any achievement of mine." "No matter who makes the claim." "It had to be said." "The world is perishing from an orgy of self-sacrificing." "I came here to be heard in the name of every man of independence still left in the world." "I wanted to state my terms." "I do not care to work or live on any others." "My terms are a man's right to exist for his own sake." "Further, you are instructed that the extent of the monetary loss suffered by the owners is not a matter to be considered by you." "The liability of the defendant for any financial loss is a question to be determined in a civil suit." "You are concerned here only with a criminal action." "You are to determine whether the defendant is guilty or innocent of the specific crime with which he has been charged." "You are the exclusive judges of the facts and under the instructions I have given you, it is your duty and your duty alone to determine the guilt or innocence of the accused." "Your Honor." "Foreman." " Have you reached a verdict?" " We have, Your Honor." "The prisoner will rise and face the jury." "What is your verdict?" "Not guilty." "I have bought from them the plans, the site, and the ruins of Cortlandt." "It's mine now and yours." "You'll rebuild it for me." "Just as you planned it." "Mr. Roark, Mr. Gail Wynand wishes to know whether you could come to his office." " Is he on the wire?" " No." "It's Mr. Wynand's secretary." "Yes." "Tell her yes." "Mr. Roark, this interview is necessary but very difficult for me." "Please act accordingly." "Yes, Mr. Wynand." "Please read this and sign it, if it meets with your approval." "What is it?" "Your contract to design the Wynand building." "Please listen carefully, Mr. Roark." "I have closed my newspaper." "The Banner has ceased to exist." "I wish to undertake the construction of the Wynand building at once." "It is to be the tallest structure of the city." "You will design it as you wish." "You will have full charge and complete authority." "But I do not care ever to see you again." "Please read the contract and sign it." "You haven't read it." "Please sign both copies." "Thank you." "This will be the last skyscraper ever built in New York." "The last achievement of man on earth before mankind destroys itself." "Mankind will never destroy itself, Mr. Wynand nor should it think of itself as destroyed." "Not so long as it does things such as this." " As what?" " As the Wynand building." "That is up to you." "Dead things such as the Banner are only the financial fertilizer that will make it possible." "It is their proper function." "I told you once that this building was to be a monument to my life." "There is nothing to commemorate now." "The Wynand building will have nothing except what you give it." "Build it as a monument to that spirit which is yours and could've been mine." "May I see Mr. Roark, please?" "Mr. Roark's way up on top." "Who's calling, ma'am?" " Mrs. Roark." " Oh."