Quotes from Viktor E. Frankl

He who has a why to live for can bear with almost any how," could be the guiding motto for all psychotherapeutic

I asked the poor creatures who listened to me attentively in the darkness of the hut to face up to the seriousness of our position.

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

I had intended to write this book anonymously, using my prison number only. But when the manuscript was completed, I saw that as an anonymous publication it would lose half its value, and that I must have the courage to state my convictions openly. I therefore refrained from deleting any of the passages, in spite of an intense dislike of exhibitionism.

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

They must not lose hope but should keep their courage in the certainty that the hopelessness of our struggle did not detract from its dignity and its meaning.

far we have shown that the meaning of life always changes, but that it never ceases to be. According to logotherapy, we can discover this meaning in life in three different ways: (1) by creating a work or doing a deed; (2)

Y es precisamente esta libertad interior la que nadie nos puede arrebatar, la que confiere a la existencia una intención y un sentido.

The angels are lost in perpetual contemplation of an infinite glory

For us, the meaning of life embraced the wider cycles of life and death, of suffering and of dying.

my daughter at about six years of age asked me the question, "Why do we speak of the good Lord?" Whereupon I said, "Some weeks ago, you were suffering from measles, and then the good Lord sent you full recovery." However, the little girl was not content; she retorted, "Well, but please, Daddy, do not forget: in the first place, he had sent me the measles.

often it is just such an exceptionally difficult external situation which gives man the opportunity to grow spiritually beyond himself.

SuferinÈ›a omului se aseam?n? cu comportamentul gazului. Dac? se pompeaz? o anumit? cantitate de gaz într-o înc?pere goal?, gazul va umple camera complet È™i uniform, indiferent de cât de mare ar fi ea. Tot astfel, suferinÈ›a umple întru totul sufletul uman È™i gândirea conÈ™tient?, indiferent dac? e vorba de o suferin?? mare sau de una mic?. De aceea, m?rimea suferinÈ›ei umane este absolut relativ?.

What does all this prove? What has come through to us from the past? Two things: everything depends on the individual human being, regardless of how small a number of like-minded people there are, and everything depends on each person, through action and not mere words, creatively making the meaning of life a reality in his or her own being.

In the past, nothing is irretrievably lost, but rather, on the contrary, everything is irrevocably stored and treasured

Logotherapy deviates from psychoanalysis insofar as it considers man a being whose main concern consists in fulfilling a meaning, rather than in the mere gratification and satisfaction of drives and instincts, or in merely reconciling the conflicting claims of id, ego and superego, or in the mere adaptation and adjustment to society and environment. Noö-Dynamics

people forgot that often it is just such an exceptionally difficult external situation which gives man the opportunity to grow spiritually beyond himself.

our current mental-hygiene philosophy stresses the idea that people ought to be happy, that unhappiness is a symptom of maladjustment. Such a value system might be responsible for the fact that the burden of unavoidable unhappiness is increased by unhappiness about being unhappy."4

In fact, freedom is in danger of degenerating into mere arbitrariness unless it is lived in terms of responsibleness. That is why I recommend that the Statue of Liberty on the East Coast be supplemented by a Statue of Responsibility on the West Coast.

someone looks down on each of us in difficult hours—a friend, a wife, somebody alive or dead, or a God—and he would not expect us to disappoint him. He would hope to find us suffering proudly—not miserably—knowing how to die.

One should not search for an abstract meaning of life. Everyone has his own specific vocation or mission in life to carry out a concrete assignment which demands fulfillment. Therein he cannot be replaced, nor can his life be repeated. Thus, everyone's task is as unique as is his specific opportunity to implement it.

Kreativan život i život uživanja zabranjeni su mu. No nisu samo stvaranje i uživanje smisleni. Ako život ima smisla, onda ga i patnja mora imati. Patnja je neiskorjenjiv dio života, ?ak u obliku sudbine i smrti. Bez patnje i smrti ljudski život ne može biti potpun.

And I quoted from Nietzsche: "Was mich nicht umbringt, macht mich stärker." (That which does not kill me, makes me stronger.)

In other words, man is ultimately self-determining. Man does not simply exist but always decides what his existence will be, what he will become in the next moment. By the same token, every human being has the freedom to change at any instant.