Quotes from Viktor E. Frankl

And what about man? Are you sure that the human world is a terminal point in the evolution of the cosmos?

a human being is not one in pursuit of happiness but rather in search of a reason to become happy

en logoterapia se denomina «suprasentido». Al hombre no se le exige, como predican los filósofos existencialistas, que soporte lo absurdo de la vida, sino que asuma racionalmente su capacidad para captar la sensatez incondicional de la vida. El logos es más profundo que la lógica.

Thus it can be seen that mental health is based on a certain degree of tension, the tension between what one has already achieved and what one still ought to accomplish, or the gap between what one is and what one should become. Such a tension is inherent in the human being and therefore is indispensable to mental well-being. We should not, then, be hesitant about challenging man with a potential meaning for him to fulfill.

But happiness cannot be pursued, it must ensue. One must have a reason to 'be happy'. Once the reason is found, however, one becomes happy automatically. As we see, a human being is not one in pursuit of happiness, but rather in search of a reason to become happy, last but not least, through actualizing the potential meaning inherent and dormant in a given situation.

I did not threaten him; I only showed surprise in still finding him here when I planned to meet him tonight in Teheran," said Death.

the "size" of human suffering is absolutely relative.

the more you are going to miss it. For success, like happiness, cannot be pursued; it must ensue, and it only does so as the unintended side-effect of one's dedication to a cause greater than oneself or as the by-product of one's surrender to a person other than oneself.

It is a peculiarity of man that he can only live by looking to the future—sub specie aeternitatis. And this is his salvation in the most

When given free rein, his imagination played with past events, often not important ones, but minor happenings and trifling things. His nostalgic memory glorified them and they assumed a strange character.

So if therapists wish to foster their patients' mental health, they should not be afraid to create a sound amount of tension through a reorientation toward the meaning of one's life.

E]very human task is an eternal one and human progress is endless, an advance into infinity, toward a goal located in infinity. And even then it is a matter only of each individual's progress in his own personal history.

El deseo sexual ni siquiera aparecía en los sueños de los prisioneros, lo que contradice el postulado del psicoanálisis que asegura que «los deseos inhibidos» se manifiestan de forma especial en el sueño.

Una vida activa cumple con la finalidad de brindar al hombre la posibilidad de desempeñar un trabajo que le proporciona valores creativos; una vida contemplativa también le concede la posibilidad de hallar la plenitud al experimentar la belleza, el arte o la naturaleza. Pero también atesora sentido una vida exenta de creación o contemplación, que solo admite una única capacidad de respuesta: la actitud de mantenerse erguido ante su inexorable destino

By his love he is enabled to see the essential traits and features in the beloved person; and even more, he sees that which is potential in him, which is not yet actualized but yet ought to be actualized. Furthermore, by his love, the loving person enables the beloved person to actualize these potentialities. By making him aware of what he can be and of what he should become, he makes these potentialities come true.

Whoever has a why to live can bear almost any how," as the German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche declared.

Daba una conferencia sobre la psicología de los campos de concentración! Al delimitar científicamente los hechos, lo que me oprimía cobraba relieve y una cierta perspectiva. Con ese método conseguía distanciarme de la situación y superar de algún modo el sufrimiento, contemplándolo como si ya hubiera sucedido. Mis problemas se transformaban en el objeto de un estudio psicocientífico que yo mismo estaba realizando.

I grasped the meaning of the greatest secret that human poetry and human thought and belief have to impart: The salvation of man is through love and in love.

What does Spinoza say in his Ethics?—"Affectus, qui passio est, desinit esse passio simulatque eius claram et distinctam formamus ideam." Emotion, which is suffering, ceases to be suffering as soon as we form a clear and precise picture of it. The prisoner who had lost faith in the future—his future—was doomed.

suffering ceases to be suffering at the moment it finds a meaning, such as the meaning of a sacrifice.

A man who becomes conscious of the responsibility he bears toward a human being who affectionately waits for him, or to an unfinished work, will never be able to throw away his life. He knows the "why" for his existence, and will be able to bear almost any "how.

Whoever was still alive had reason for hope. Health, family, happiness, professional abilities, fortune, position in society - all these were things that could be achieved again or restored.

In addition to this, however, man has suffered another loss in his more recent development inasmuch as the traditions which buttressed his behavior are now rapidly diminishing. No instinct tells him what he has to do, and no tradition tells him what he ought to do; sometimes he does not even know what he wishes to do. Instead, he either wishes to do what other people do (conformism) or he does what other people wish him to do (totalitarianism).

There was neither time nor desire to consider moral or ethical issues. Every man was controlled by one thought only: to keep himself alive for the family waiting for him at home, and to save his friends. With no hesitation, therefore, he would arrange for another prisoner, another "number," to take his place in the transport.