My favorite lens is also the least expensive lens I own. It's the smallest, easiest to carry, and the most durable piece of glass I have. If I had to sell all my gear but one lens, I'd keep the 50mm and be happy for the rest of my days.
Curiously enough, the people I talk to don't WANT to hear that the 50mm F/1.8 is my favorite lens. They want to hear that the 70-200mm F/2.8 or the 400 F/2.8 or the 600 F/4 is my favorite lens, because all those lenses are hideously expensive, and thus generally out of reach for these beginners and amateurs who don't have thousands to spend on glass.
They can say, "Well it isn't my fault that my pictures suck, I don't have the right gear, I don't have the money. If I could only have ____, then I'd be a better photographer."
On the other hand, a $125 or $220 lens?* Anyone can buy that with a little bit of smart spending/saving. Cut back on your coffee or cigarette or energy drink habit and you've saved enough to buy one in a month or two.
If the gear you need is within your reach, it becomes YOUR fault that your pictures suck. It becomes your problem that you haven't spent any time thinking critically about how to communicate with a still image. It becomes your fault that you don't care enough to take your time to compose an image worth sharing. All of a sudden, when you realize that gear is not the issue, all your shortcomings as a photographer become your problem.
Of course this is stupid. The fact that you never bothered to learn proper exposure has always been your problem, but you used to be able to brush it off and pretend it wasn't your fault.
Those damn camera companies just make things too damn expensive. Damn THEM!
Uh uh. No dice.
Do yourself a favor, buy a 50mm prime. Use it exclusively for a week or a month. Put a few hundred frames through it. Something tells me that you too will discover its power.
The one lens.
To rule them all.
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