Ayn Rand [is not] suggesting that the independent man is a nonconformist or antisocial. A deliberate effort at nonconformity would merely be an inverted form of subservience to others, a reverse game of Simon Says in which one still takes one’s cues from others. And relationships with others can add inestimable value to one’s life.

- Tara Smith. Unborrowed Vision: Independence and Egoism in The Fountainhead.