Gandhi

Mahatma Gandhi both practiced and preached a philosophy of non-violence, even in the face of violence being perpetrated against the innocent. This raises some obvious questions, such as what is required in the face of genocide such as during the Holocaust. Fortunately, Gandhi has some answers:

"The Jews should have offered themselves to the butcher's knife. They should have thrown themselves into the sea from cliffs."

It's hard to consider him a great thinker after reading something like this. It also strikes me as somewhat hypocritical -- after all, isn't suicide a form of violence against oneself?