Quotes About Adversity

minus hair; all we possessed, literally, was our naked existence. What else remained for us as a material link with our former lives? For me there were my glasses and my belt; the latter I had to exchange later on for a piece of bread.

a person "may remain brave, dignified and unselfish, or in the bitter fight for self-preservation he may forget his human dignity and become no more than an animal." He concedes that only a few prisoners of the Nazis were able to do the former, "but even one such example is sufficient proof that man's inner strength may raise him above his outward fate.

the priority stays with creatively changing the situation that causes us to suffer. But the superiority goes to the "know-how to suffer," if need be.

When Bad Things Happen to Good People

no es el sufrimiento en sí mismo el que madura o enturbia al hombre, es el hombre el que da sentido al sufrimiento. Hasta

Thus the illusions some of us still held were destroyed one by one, and then, quite unexpectedly, most of us were overcome by a grim sense of humor. We knew that we had nothing to lose except our so ridiculously naked lives. When the showers started to run, we all tried very hard to make fun, both about ourselves and about each other. After all, real water did flow from the sprays!

Humor was another of the soul's weapons in the fight for self-preservation. It is well known that humor, more than anything else in the human make-up, can afford an aloofness and an ability to rise above any situation, even if only for a few seconds.

The greatest task for any person is to find meaning in his or her life. Frankl saw three possible sources for meaning: in work (doing something significant), in love (caring for another person), and in courage during difficult times. Suffering in and of itself is meaningless; we give our suffering meaning by the way in which we respond to it. At

Modul în care omul îÅŸi accept? soarta ÅŸi toat? suferinÅ£a pe care aceasta i-o cauzeaz?, modul în care îÅŸi duce crucea îi ofer? oportunit??i ample – chiar ÅŸi în cele mai teribile împrejur?ri – s? adauge un sens ÅŸi mai profund vieÅ£ii sale.

we are challenged to change ourselves.

Un renombrado investigador en psicología ha manifestado que la reclusión en un campo de concentración podía denominarse «vida provisional». En virtud de nuestra experiencia, completaríamos esa expresión añadiendo que es una «vida provisional de duración desconocida».

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. Dostoevsky said once, "There is only one thing that I dread: not to be worthy of my sufferings.

proof that 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.

If you want to stay alive, there is only one way: look fit for work. If you even limp, because, let us say, you have a small blister on your heel, and an SS man spots this, he will wave you aside and the next day you are sure to be gassed.

even the helpless victim of a hopeless situation, facing a fate he cannot change, may rise above himself, may grow beyond himself, and by so doing change himself

La historia de ese libro es sorprendente y apasionante. Apareció por primera vez en 1946 con el título Ein Psychologe erlebt das Konzentrationslager (Un psicólogo en un campo de concentración).

El talante con el que un hombre acepta su ineludible destino y todo el sufrimiento que le acompaña, la forma en que carga con su cruz, le ofrece una singular oportunidad, incluso bajo las circunstancias más adversas, para dotar a su vida de un sentido más profundo.

Most important, however, is the third avenue to meaning in life: even the helpless victim of a hopeless situation, facing a fate he cannot change, may rise above himself, may grow beyond himself, and by so doing change himself. He may turn a personal tragedy into a triumph.

Nietzsche: "Was mich nicht umbringt, macht mich stärker.

There is only one thing that I dread: not to be worthy of my sufferings.

As I once put it: "As a professor in two fields, neurology and psychiatry, I am fully aware of the extent to which man is subject to biological, psychological and sociological conditions. But in addition to being a professor in two fields I am a survivor of four camps —concentration camps, that is—and as such I also bear witness to the unexpected extent to which man is capable of defying and braving even the worst conditions conceivable."17

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. Dostoevski said once, "There is only one thing that I dread: not to be worthy of my sufferings.

The sufferers, the dying and the dead, became such commonplace sights to him after a few weeks of camp life that they could not move him any more.

Esas personas olvidaban que, muchas veces, las circunstancias excepcionalmente adversas otorgan al hombre la oportunidad de crecer espiritualmente más allá de sí mismo.