My favourite philosopher would have to be Socrates. This is because I thought him to be a very wise man for realising his own ignorance and acting in the correct ways at the appropriate times.

He was a main influence to Western Philosophy and was not quite the ordinary fellow. He would walk the streets of Athens dressed in what seemed to be poor clothing and having discussions with people on the streets.

He ended up being prosecuted for "corrupting the minds of Athenian youth".


Famous Quotes:
- "The unexamined life is not worth living"

- "All men's souls are immortal, but the souls of the righteous are immortal and divine"

- "By all means, marry. If you get a good wife, you'll become happy; if you get a bad one, you'll become a philosopher"

- "From the deepest desires often come the deadliest hate"

- "He is a man of courage who does not run away, but remains at his post and fights against the enemy"

- "I am the wisest man alive, for I know one thing, and that is that I know nothing"

- "Death may be the greatest of all human blessings"

The latter three/bolded quotes are my favourites.
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So do tell about your favourite Philosopher and why they are your favourite.

My favorite is definitely Niccoló Machiavelli. I don't have as many favorite quotes, in particular, by him, as much as paragraphs, essays, or even writings to a larger extent. But it is my opinion that both he and his various writings are so intelligent and great that a few quotes doesn't come close to expressing how awesome he really is. I would suggest reading his material, and observing and understanding his words directly, in which they can be appreciated as much as possible. Although, I realize that some people may not have access to his superb books, so I will mention a few quotes of his that I can recall off the top of my head. But as previously stated, a few small quotes don't come close to giving him the great respect he truly deserves. And for the record, I will never stoop to the level of taking quotes off of the Internet because it seems that the vast majority of them are inaccurate and don't give proper justice to their creators. Alas:

"...therefore the injury that is to be done to a man ought to be of such a kind that one does not stand in fear of revenge."
"A wise man ought always to follow the paths beaten by great men, and to imitate those who have been supreme, so that if his ability does not equal theirs, at least it will savour of it."
"...Upon this a question arises: whether it be better to beloved than feared or feared than loved? It may be answered that one should wish to be both, but, because it is difficult to unite them in one person, it is much safer to be feared than loved, when, of the two, either must be dispensed with."

My favorite philosopher would have to be Søren Kierkegaard. In the modern sense he has been cited as the first existential philosopher, coined long after his death. I would also say he is one of the more inspirational men, suggesting that life is uncertain and in things like religion or love we have to simply have faith as nothing will rationalize the situation.

The thing that really attracted me to him was his very strong faith, a trait not common amongst more contemporary thinkers. Unfortunately my access to his writings, and all writings for that matter, are limited with no libraries near me or the ability to read books online.

"Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards."

"genuine love is recognizable by this, that its object is without any of the more definite qualifications of difference, which means that this love is recognizable only by love."

"In an inadmissible and unlawful way we have learned to know him; whereas to believe in him is the only permissible mode of approach." On Christ

I don't have enough time to go into detail, but China and Italy has had some pretty cool guys.

I actually got an entire journal on philosophies...some my own.

"In spite of everything, I still believe that people are really good at heart."
-Anne Frank

"Only the Chinese can make Chinese proverbs."
-Chinese proverb

www.youtube.com/PhilosophicalPsycho

I don't really have time to go in-depth, but assuming you don't count Karl Marx (more of a political scientist), I'd have to say Erich Fromm.

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