"But you see, I have, let's say, sixty years to live. Most of that time will be spent working. I've chosen the work I want to do. If I find no joy in it, then I'm only condemning myself to sixty years of torture. And I can find the joy only if I do my work in the best way possible to me. But the best is a matter of standards—and I set my own standards. I inherit nothing. I stand at the end of no tradition. I may, perhaps, stand at the beginning of one."
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Original Language: English
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Chapter I, p. 24; Howard Roark to the Dean
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/The_Fountainhead
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The Fountainhead
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