Many people tend to read philosophy in their effort to be philosophers. And yet, that is the only thing you should not do.

Reading about what others have said is the best way to poison your thought and cat away any original ideas. If you know what giants like Aristotle or Plato said, how can you be sure that you will not be influenced by the way they saw things? If you love Nietzsche or hate Socrates, won’t your philosophy be influenced by them?

In short: how can your thought be your thought after it has been affected by the thought of others?

Read philosophy.

But only after you have concluded on your own.

Only after you have completed your own philosophical thought about everything can you know if that thought was epicurean or platonic. Only after you have learned to speak can you know that you like what you hear…