"As a human being, you have no choice about the fact that you need a
philosophy. Your only choice is whether you define your philosophy by
a conscious, rational, disciplined process of thought and scrupulously
logical deliberation – or let your subconscious accumulate a junk heap
of unwarranted conclusions, false generalizations, undefined
contradictions, undigested slogans, unidentified wishes, doubts and
fears, thrown together by chance, but integrated by your subconscious
into a kind of mongrel philosophy and fused into a single solid weight:
self doubt, like a ball and chain in the place where your mind's wings
should have grown."
– Ayn Rand
(Sent to me by a friend. Thanks for the reminder, Spiff!)