I was so far behind the curve. I hadn’t really done much work in school. Went out there and I was just barely hanging in and that was a really jarring thing. So along comes Atlas Shrugged and at least the way I read it was you’re special, you know, because […] you believe in selfishness. And at that point, just I got caught up on you’re special. That was enough, you know. So I think I started kind of just using it as the one way in that environment I could feel special, you know, could feel could feel that I for all of my external defects inside I was a a glowing night of objectivity.

— George Saunders in David Marchese’s, George Saunders Says Breaking These 3 Delusions Can Save You, The Interview, 2026 (via)