Martin: You got everything money can buy, except what it can't. It's pride! Pride is what got your ass outta here, your losing is what brung you back. But people like you, they need to be tested. They need a challenge.
Mason: But you know that ain't gonna happen, there ain't no one out there...
Martin: There's always somebody out there. Always. And when that time comes, and you find something standing in front of you, something that... it ain't running, it ain't backin' up and is hittin' on you and you're too damn tired to breathe... You find that situation on you, that's good! Coz that's baptism under fire... Oh you get through that and you find the only kind of respect that matters in this damn world - self-respect.
- Rocky Balboa
"Peter, I love this work. I want to see it erected. I want to make it real, living, functioning, built. But every living thing is integrated. Do you know what that means? Whole, pure, complete, unbroken. Do you know what constitutes an integrating principle? A thought. The one thought, the single thought that created the thing and every part of it. The thought which no one can change or touch. I want to design Cortlandt. I want to see it built. I want to see it built exactly as I design it."
"Howard...I won't say 'It's nothing.'"
"You understand?"
"Yes."
"I like to receive money for my work. But I can pass that up this time. I like to have people know my work is done by me. But I can pass that up. I like to have tenants made happy by my work. But that doesn't matter too much. The only thing that matters, my goal, my reward, my beginning, my end is the work itself. My work done my way. Peter, there's nothing in the world that you can offer me, except this. Offer me this and you can have anything I've got to give. My work done my way. A private, personal, selfish, egotistical motivation. That's the only way I function. That's all I am."
"Yes, Howard. I understand. With my whole mind."
"Then here's what I'm offering you: I'll design Cortlandt. You'll put your name on it. You'll keep all the fees. But you'll guarantee that it will be built exactly as I design it."
...
"I give you my word."
Roark took two typewritten sheets of paper from his pocket and handed them to him. "Sign it."
"What's that?"
"A contract between us, stating the terms of our agreement. A copy for each of us. It would probably have no legal validity whatever. But I can hold it over your head. I couldn't sue you. But I could make this public. If it's prestige you want, you can't allow this to become known. If your courage fails you at any point, remember that you'll lose everything by giving in. But if you'll keep your word - I give you mine - it's written there - that I'll never betray this to anyone. Cortlandt will be yours. On the day when it's finished, I'll send this paper back to you and you can burn it if you wish."
"All right, Howard."
Keating signed, handed the pen to him, and Roark signed.
Keating sat looking at him for a moment, then said slowly, as if trying to distinguish the dim form of some thought of his own:
"Everybody would say you're a fool....Everybody would say I'm getting everything...."
"You'll get everything society can give a man. You'll keep all the money. You'll take any fame or honor anyone might want to grant. You'll accept such gratitude as the tenants might feel. And I - I'll take what nobody can give a man, except himself. I will have built Cortlandt."
"You're getting more than I am, Howard."
"Peter!" The voice was triumphant. "You understand that?"
"Yes...."
- Ayn Rand, The Fountainhead
