The Fountainhead Page #11

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.

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