Objectivism for Dummies -- making the complex simple to understand

In contrast to her novels, Ayn Rand's philosophical writings can be dense and difficult -- and thus daunting.

Anticipating this, Rand distilled her Objectivism into four familiar maxims:

1. Metaphysics: “Wishing won’t make it so.” (Objective Reality)
2. Epistemology: “You can’t eat your cake and have it, too.”(Reason)
3. Ethics: “Man is an end in himself.”(Self-interest)
4. Politics: “Give me liberty or give me death.” (Capitalism)

"If you held these concepts with total consistency as the base of your convictions," Rand wrote, "you would have a full philosophical system to guide the course of your life."

If Ayn Rand could boil down her entire philosophy to just 27 words, what stops us from making our most complex ideas just as accessible ? (Other than stubborness or laziness, that is.)

Brutal simplicity is a virtue.