Viktor E. Frankl Quotes

Everywhere man is confronted with fate , with a chance of achieving something through his own suffering.

It is not freedom from conditions, but it is freedom to take a stand toward the conditions.

It is a peculiarity of man that he can only live by looking to the future.

Life requires of man spiritual elasticity, so that he may temper his efforts to the chances that are offered.

Challenging the meaning of life is the truest expression of the state of being human.

Ultimately, man should not ask what the meaning of his life is, but rather he must recognize that it is he who is asked.

Set me like a seal upon thy heart, love is as strong as death.

It is always important to have something yet to do in life.

No one can take away my freedom to choose how I will react.

When we are not any lengthier capable to alter a predicament, we're challenged to alter ourselves

I understood how a man who has nothing left in this world still may know bliss, be it only for a brief moment, in the contemplation of his beloved.

A sound philosophy of life, I think, may be the most valuable asset for a psychiatrist to have when he is treating a patient.

For the world is in a bad state, but everything will become still worse unless each of us does his best.

A man who could not see the end of his"provisional existence" was not able to aim at an ultimate goal in life.

A life of short duration...could be so rich in joy and love that it could contain more meaning than a life lasting eighty years.

At any moment, man must decide, for better or for worse, what will be the monument of his existence.

Fundamentally, therefore, any man can, even under such circumstances, decide what shall become of him—mentally and spiritually. He may retain his human dignity even in a concentration camp.

Man is capable of changing the world for the better if possible, and of changing himself for the better if necessary.

...to think of ourselves as those who were being questioned by life-daily and hourly. Our answer must consist, not in talk and meditation, but in right action and in right conduct.

No one can take from us the ability to choose our attitudes toward the circumstances in which we find ourselves. This is the last of human freedoms.

It is true that we can see the therapist as a technician only if we have first viewed the patient as some sort of machine.

I became acquainted with those martyrs whose behavior in camp, whose suffering and death, bore witness to the fact that the last inner freedom cannot be lost.

Somewhere I heard a victorious "Yes" in answer to my question of the existence of ultimate purpose.

The transitoriness of our existence in now way makes it meaningless. But it does constitute our responsibleness; for everything hinges upon our realizing the essentially transitory possibilities.

The struggle for existence is a struggle 'for' something; it is purposeful and only in so being is it meaningful and able to bring meaning into life.

Our main motivation for living is our will to find meaning in life.

Woe to him who saw no more sense in his life, no aim, no purpose, and therefore no point in carrying on.

Such a value system might be responsible for the fact that the burden of unavoidable unhappiness is increased by unhappiness about being unhappy.

These tasks, and therefore the meaning of life, differ from man to man, and from moment to moment. Thus it is impossible to define the meaning in life in a general way.

It is the pursuit of happiness that thwarts happiness.

Happiness must ensue. It cannot be pursued

Man's last freedom is his freedom to choose how he will react in any given situation

As the struggle for survival has subsided, the question has emerged: survival for what? Ever more people have the means to live, but no meaning to live for.

Having been is also a kind of being, and perhaps the surest kind.

Sleep [is like] a dove which has landed near one's hand and stays there as long as one does not pay any attention to it.

Now, it is my contention that the deneuroticization of humanity requires a rehumanization of psychotherapy.

We dislike talking about our experiences. No explanations are needed for those who have been inside, and the others will understand neither how we felt then nor how we feel now.

Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms—to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.

Don’t aim at success—the more you aim at it and make it a target, the more you are going to miss it.

Fear makes come true that which one is afraid of.

When we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves.

Man's search for meaning is the primary motivation in his life and not a "secondary rationalization" of instinctual drives.

I think it was Lessing who once said, 'There are things which must cause you to lose your reason or you have none to lose'. An abnormal reaction to an abnormal situation is normal behaviour".

Thus suffering completely fills the human soul and conscious mind, no matter whether the suffering is great or little. Therefore the 'size' of human suffering is absolutely relative".

The salvation of man is through love and in love

As long as a self is driven by an id to a Thou, it is not a matter of love, either. In love the self is not driven by the id, but rather the self chooses the Thou.

When a person can't find a deep sense of meaning, they distract themselves with pleasure.

Each of us has his own inner concentration camp... We must deal with, with forgiveness and patience-as full human beings, as we are and what we will become.

Everywhere man is confronted with fate, with the chance of achieving something through his own suffering.

Suffering ceases to be suffering at the moment it finds a meaning, such as the meaning of scarifice