Great Scottish quotes on philosophy

Scotland may be small in size, but it has been home to some of the world's greatest minds - people who have helped influence global culture.

Here we celebrate seven great Scottish quotes on philosophy:

David Hume, Edinburgh, 1711 -1776: "Nothing is more surprising than the easiness with which the many are governed by the few."

Adam Ferguson, Atholl, 1723-1816: "Love is an affection which carries the attention of the mind beyond itself, and is the sense of a relation to some fellow creature as to its object."

Frances Wright, 1795, Dundee, 1795-1852: "Equality is the soul of liberty; there is, in fact, no liberty without it."

Margaret Oliphant, Wallyford 1828-97: “Life is no definite thing with a beginning and an end, a growth and a climax; but a basket of fragments, passages that lead to nothing, curious incidents which look of importance at first, but which crumble and break into pieces, dropping into ruins.”

Thomas Reid, Strachan, 1710 - 1976: "The rules of navigation never navigated a ship. The rules of architecture never built a house."

Adam Smith, Kirkcaldy, 1723 - 1790: "Wherever there is great property, there is great inequality... for one very rich man, there must be at least five hundred poor."

Thomas Carlyle, Ecclefechan 1795- 1881: "A man lives by believing something: not by debating and arguing about many things."