Permission versus Rights

"A right is the sanction of independent action. A right is that which can be exercised without anyone's permission.

"If you exist only because society permits you to exist--you have no right to your own life.

"A permission can be revoked at any time. If, before undertaking some action, you must obtain the permission of society--you are not free, whether such permission is granted to you or not. Only a slave acts on permission. A permission is not a right. 

"Do not make the mistake, at this point, of thinking that a worker is a slave and that he holds his job by his employer's permission. He does not hold it by permission--but by contract, that is, by a voluntary mutual agreement. A worker can quit his job. A slave cannot."

~ Ayn Rand from her 'Textbook of Americanism,' collected in The Ayn Rand Column