The Question Isnt Who Is Going

This line comes from Part IV of The Fountainhead (1943), spoken by the protagonist Howard Roark, an uncompromising architect who refuses to subordinate his creative vision to others' approval. Rand used Roark as the embodiment of her Objectivist ideal — the individual who acts from his own judgment rather than waiting for external permission. The line has become one of the most frequently quoted expressions of her philosophy of rational self-determination.