To Joanne Rondeau, a fan [Letter 339]

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May 22, 1948

Dear Miss Rondeau:

You asked me to explain the meaning of my sentence in THE FOUNTAINHEAD: “To say ‘I love you’ one must know first how to say the ‘I’.”

The meaning of that sentence is contained in the whole of THE FOUNTAINHEAD. And it is stated right in the speech on page 400 from which you took that sentence. The meaning of the “I” is an independent, self-sufficient entity that does not exist for the sake of any other person.

A person who exists only for the sake of his loved one is not an independent entity, but a spiritual parasite. The love of a parasite is worth nothing.

The usual (and very vicious) nonsense preached on the subject of love claims that love is self-sacrifice. A man’s self is his spirit. If one sacrifices his spirit, who or what is left to feel the love? True love is profoundly selfish, in the noblest meaning of the word—it is an expression of one’s self, of one’s highest values. When a person is in love, he seeks his own happiness—and not his sacrifice to the loved one. And the loved one would be a monster if she wanted or expected sacrifice.

Any person who wants to live for others—for one sweetheart or for the whole of mankind—is a selfless nonentity. An independent “I” is a person who exists for his own sake. Such a person does not make any vicious pretense of self-sacrifice and does not demand it from the person he loves. Which is the only way to be in love and the only form of a self-respecting relationship between two people.

If you want to understand the idea of an independent ego completely, you will find it stated in two passages of THE FOUNTAINHEAD: In Roark’s conversation

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2.

with Wynand on pages 655–660, and in Roark’s courtroom speech on pages 736–743. Read these passages very carefully, because they will tell you the answer to your question much better than I can restate it in a letter.

I shall be curious to see your term paper. Would you send me a copy of it?

Sincerely,

Ayn Rand