Quotes from Viktor E. Frankl

When I was taken to the concentration camp of Auschwitz, a manuscript of mine ready for publication was confiscated. Certainly, my deep desire to write this manuscript anew helped me to survive the rigors of the camps I was in.

Faith is trust in ultimate meaning.

Even a genius cannot completely resist his Zeitgeist, the spirit of his time.

Religion is the search for ultimate meaning.

There are two races of men in this world but only these two: the race of the decent man and the race of the indecent man.

No man should judge unless he asks himself in absolute honesty whether in a similar situation he might not have done the same.

Man's main concern is not to gain pleasure or to avoid pain but rather to see a meaning in his life.

But there was no need to be ashamed of tears, for tears bore witness that a man had the greatest of courage, the courage to suffer.

Man can only find meaning for his existence in something outside himself.

As such, I also bear witness to the unexpected extent to which man is capable of defying and braving even the worst conditions conceivable.

Man is not fully conditioned and determined but rather determines himself whether he gives in to conditions or stands up to them.

Ultimate freedom is a man's right to choose his attitude.

When a man cannot find meaning, he numbs himself with pleasure.

Love is the ultimate and the highest goal to which man can aspire.

Man ultimately decides for himself! And in the end, education must be education towards the ability to decide

Man does not simply exist but always decides what his existence will be, what he will become the next moment. By the same token, every human being has the freedom to change at any instant.

Man's search for meaning is the chief motivation of his life.

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

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

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

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.

I recommend that the Statue of Liberty on the East Coast be supplemented by a Statue of Responsiblity on the West Coast.

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

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