I have read this book 3 times.  The first time when I was 19.  It is a classic tale of individuality to the extreme.  Howard Roark is an uncompromising architect who owes nobody anything and asks for nothing.  He is self sufficiency personified.  A wonderful book but a bit harsh as I look back on it.  Rand could be cruel,  I think she would have agreed with some of  the Nazi ideas of forced sterilization and or extermination of  say, people with Down's Syndrome.  Still, this is her best book and many of the ideas in it I wholeheartedly agree with.

http://greggdilorenzo.zaadz.com/blog/2006/8/entry_2

It was Rand who “saved my life.”  I opened one of her non-fiction books to a random page and read as one woman passionately stood for my life and defended my right to live for my own happiness.  In that moment I found the freedom and power to own my life and go forth and create.  I read her fiction after her non-fiction.  I read Fountainhead before Atlas and The Fountainhead is my favorite.  Read it for the power to head boldly into the world with your own vision and the courage not to compromise.

Have you noticed that the imbecile always smiles?  Man's first frown is the first touch of God on his forehead.  The touch of thought…

Dominique as Gail looks at her “… there is a stage of worship which makes the worshiper himself an object of reverence.”