"The smallest minority on earth is the individual. Those who deny individual rights cannot claim to be defenders of minorities."
— Ayn Rand
The Smallest Minority On Earth Is
The smallest minority on earth is the individual. Those who deny individual rights cannot claim to be defenders of minorities.
About this quote
This argument appears in Chapter 13 of The Virtue of Selfishness (1964), Rand's essay on the concept of individual rights. She contended that collectivism — including racial and ethnic group identity politics — is itself a form of anti-individualism, and that the only morally coherent minority is the individual. The argument was controversial and was interpreted by many critics as a deflection from claims of group-based discrimination.
Source
The Virtue of Selfishness, Chapter 13 (1964)
