Quotes About Suffering

The way in which a man accepts his fate and all the suffering it entails, the way in which he takes up his cross, gives him ample opportunity—even under the most difficult circumstances—to add a deeper meaning to his life.

I was horrified, but this was just as well, because step by step we had to become accustomed to a terrible and immense horror.

Mientras esperábamos la ducha se nos hizo patente nuestra desnudez, en su sentido literal: éramos solamente un cuerpo. Nada más. Solo poseíamos la existencia desnuda. ¿Qué

The prisoner of Auschwitz, in the first phase of shock, did not fear death. Even the gas chambers lost their horrors for him after the first few days—after all, they spared him the act of committing suicide.

In qualche modo, la sofferenza cessa di essere tale nel momento in cui trova un significato, come il significato di un sacrificio.

some of the prisoners attempted to find one on their own. 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 difficult moments of his existence, although he sometimes has to force his mind to the task.

mankind was apparently doomed to vacillate eternally between the two extremes of distress and boredom.

One literally became a number: dead or alive—that was unimportant; the life of a "number" was completely irrelevant.

hand. When a man finds that it is his destiny to suffer, he will have to accept his suffering as his task; his single and unique task. He will have to acknowledge the fact that even in suffering he is unique and alone in the universe. No one can relieve him of his suffering or suffer in his place. His unique opportunity lies in the way in which he bears his burden.

El hombre es ese ser capaz de inventar las cámaras de gas de Auschwitz, pero también es el ser que ha entrado en esas mismas cámaras con la cabeza erguida y el Padrenuestro o el Shemá Israel en los labios.

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.

know that without the suffering, the growth that I have achieved would have been impossible." Is

Viktor E. Frankl

The Meaning of Suffering We must never forget that we may also find meaning in life even when confronted with a hopeless situation, when facing a fate that cannot be changed. For what then matters is to bear witness to the uniquely human potential at its best, which is to transform a personal tragedy into a triumph, to turn one's predicament into a human achievement.

suffering and to consider it ennobling rather than degrading" so that "he is not only unhappy, but also ashamed of being unhappy."5

Ada cukup banyak penderitaan yang harus kita jalani. Karenanya, kita perlu menghadapi seluruh penderitaan kita, dan berusaha meminimalkan perasaan lemah dan takut. Namun, kita juga tidak perlu malu untuk menangis, karena air mata merupakan saksi dari keberanian manusia yang paling besar, yakni keberanian untuk menderita.

Suffering ceases to be suffering when it finds meaning

it is not the physical pain which hurts the most (and this applies to adults as much as to punished children); it is the mental agony caused by the injustice, the unreasonableness of it all. Strangely

but what never can be ruled out is the unavoidability of suffering. In accepting this challenge to suffer bravely, life has a meaning up to the last moment, and it retains this

To draw an analogy: a man's suffering is similar to the behavior of a gas. If a certain quantity of gas is pumped into an empty chamber, it will fill the chamber completely and evenly, no matter how big the chamber.

A man who for years had thought he had reached the absolute limit of all possible suffering now found that suffering has no limits, and that he could suffer still more, and still more intensely.

The crowning experience of all, for the homecoming man, is the wonderful feeling that, after all he has suffered, there is nothing he need fear any more—except his God.

there is a meaning in life at all, then there must be a meaning in suffering. Suffering is an ineradicable part of life, even as fate and death. Without suffering and death human life cannot be complete.

Obviously the prisoners found the lack of character in such men especially upsetting, while they were profoundly moved by the smallest kindness received from any of the guards. I remember how one day a foreman secretly gave me a piece of bread which I knew he must have saved from his breakfast ration. It was far more than the small piece of bread which moved me to tears at that time. It was the human something which this man also gave to me - the word and look which accompanied the gift.