In the course of presenting the virtues of the rational egoist, I have addressed several aspects of an egoist's relations with others, most prominently in my discussions of independence, justice (which included forgiveness, mercy, and sanction), and the conventional virtues of charity, generosity, and kindness. A particular misapprehension concerning friendship and love also warrants some attention, however. Many people suppose that even if the egoist can be kind, charitable, or generous on certain occasions, his egoism undermines his capacity to enjoy deeper, more rewarding personal relationships. After all, isn't the egoist committed to always putting himself first? And as a consequence, won't he be too wrapped up in himself to care about others – or at least, to care in the way that a true friend would? Without a less calculated commitment to another person's well-being, the soul of love and friendship seems unavailable to him. Egoists cannot be authentic friends or lovers, the suspicion is, since, qua egoists, they can value others only instrumentally.

While the nature and basis of friendship and love is a huge subject which presents intricate and heavily psychological questions that extend far beyond the scope of this project, in order to round out my portrait of the life of a rational egoist, I will offer a few comments simply to indicate how this is, indeed, a misapprehension of the egoism that Rand endorses. Necessarily, I must delimit even this.