Quotes About Perspective

To draw an analogy: a man's suffering is similar to the behaviour of 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. Thus suffering completely fills the human soul and conscious mind, no matter whether the suffering is great or little. Therefore the size of human suffering is absolutely relative.

If one cannot change a situation that causes his suffering, he can still choose his attitude.

Bismarck: «La vida es como visitar al dentista. Siempre crees que lo peor aún está por llegar, cuando en realidad ya ha pasado».

De ahí se deduce que el «tamaño» del sufrimiento humano es relativo.

I doubt whether a doctor can answer this question in general terms. For the meaning of life differs from man to man, from day to day and from hour to hour. What matters, therefore, is not the meaning of life in general but rather the specific meaning of a person's life at a given moment. To put the question in general terms would be comparable to the question posed to a chess champion: "Tell me, Master, what is the best move in the world?

For the meaning of life differs from man to man, from day to day and from hour to hour. What matters, therefore, is not the meaning of life in general but rather the specific meaning of a person's life at a given moment.

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 attempt to develop a sense of humor and to see things in a humorous light is some kind of a trick learned while mastering the art of living. Yet it is possible to practice the art of living even in a concentration camp, although suffering is omnipresent.

Comprendí como el hombre, desposeído de todo en este mundo, todavía puede conocer la felicidad -aunque sea momentáneamente- si contempla al ser querido.

How sorry I was for that fellow and how glad not to be in his skin at that moment, but instead to be sick and able to doze on in the sick quarters! What a lifesaver it was to have two days there, and perhaps even two extra days after those! All

Since I had always been especially sorry for people who suffered from fearful dreams or deliria, I wanted to wake the poor man. Suddenly I drew back the hand which was ready to shake him, frightened at the thing I was about to do. At that moment I became intensely conscious of the fact that no dream, no matter how horrible, could be as bad as the reality of the camp which surrounded us, and to which I was about to recall him.

To put it figuratively, the role played by a logotherapist is that of an eye specialist rather than that of a painter. A painter tries to convey to us a picture of the world as he sees it; an ophthalmologist tries to enable us to see the world as it really is. The logotherapist's role consists of widening and broadening the visual field of the patient so that the whole spectrum of potential meaning becomes conscious and visible to him.

No man and no destiny can be compared with any other man or any other destiny.

but you can always control what you will feel and do about what happens to you.

All that oppressed me at that moment became objective, seen and described from the remote viewpoint of science. By this method I succeeded somehow in rising above the situation, above the sufferings of the moment, and I observed them as if they were already of the past.

From this one may see that there is no reason to pity old people. Instead, young people should envy them. It is true that old have no opportunities, no possibilities in the future. But they have more than that. Instead of possibilities in the future, they have realities in the past—the potentialities they have actualized, the meanings they have fulfilled, the values they have realized—and nothing and nobody can ever remove these assets from the past.

I became intensely conscious of the fact that no dream, no matter how horrible, could be as bad as the reality of the camp which surrounded us

the "size" of human suffering is absolutely relative.

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.

To put the question in general terms would be comparable to the question posed to a chess champion: "Tell me, Master, what is the best move in the world?" There simply is no such thing as the best or even a good move apart from a particular situation in a game and the particular personality of one's opponent. The same holds for human existence.

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.

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?.

A painter tries to convey to us a picture of the world as he sees it; an ophthalmologist tries to enable us to see the world as it really is.

ViaÈ›a e ca atunci când mergi la dentist; te tot gândeÈ™ti c? urmeaz? ce-i mai r?u È™i când colo totul s-a terminat deja.

the meaning of life differs from man to man, from day to day and from hour to hour. What matters, therefore, is not the meaning of life in general but rather the specific meaning of a person's life at a given moment.