How we cite our quotes: Citations follow this format: (Volume.Chapter.Section.Page). We used the 50th Anniversary Edition published by Signet Books in 2007.
Quote #4
"But you've given the prestige of science to that unspeakable stuff! .... But you've made them think it's science. Science! You've taken the achievements of the mind to destroy the mind." (2.1.1.74)
Stadler's rant against Ferris has to do with protecting the "prestige" of science. It's almost as if Stadler views science as a religion and Ferris has committed blasphemy.
Quote #5
"A man with the genius of a great scientist, who chose to be a commercial inventor? I find it outrageous. He wanted a motor, and he quietly performed a major revolution in the science of energy, just as a means to an end, and he didn't bother to publish his findings, but went right on making his motor. Why did he waste his mind on practical appliances?"
"Perhaps because he liked living on this earth," she said involuntarily. (2.1.2.31)
Stadler reveals his own biases here when he fails to appreciate the value of technology. He only believes in pure science and fails to understand the need to use it for practical ends. Dagny's remark emphasizes how she links life to positive actions.
Quote #6
"Hank, that motor was the most valuable thing inside this factory," she said, her voice low. "It was more valuable than the whole factory and everything it ever contained. Yet it was passed up and left in the refuse. It was the one thing nobody found worth the trouble of taking." (1.9.6.161-162)
The motor plays an important role in symbolizing the strike and the strikers' values, and helps reveal the blindness and ignorance of society at large, who dismiss it as junk.