Viktor E. Frankl Quotes

173 quotes in 2116 categories

• For the world is in a bad state, but everything will become still worse unless each of us does his best. Bad
• Even though conditions such as lack of sleep, insufficient food and various mental stresses may suggest that the inmates were bound to react in certain… Alone
• Love goes very far beyond the physical person of the beloved. It finds its deepest meaning in its spiritual being, his inner self. Whether or… Actually Present
• Our generation is realistic, for we have come to know man as he really is. After all, man is that being who invented the gas… All
• A man's concern, even his despair, over the worthwhileness of life is an existential distress but by no means a mental disease. Concern
• The incurable sufferer is given very little opportunity to be proud of his suffering and to consider it ennobling rather than degrading" so that "he… Ashamed
• What is demanded of man is not, as some existential philosophers teach, to endure the meaninglessness of life, but rather to bear his incapacity to… Bear
• The transitoriness of our existence in now way makes it meaningless. But it does constitute our responsibleness; for everything hinges upon our realizing the essentially… Constitute
• Ironically enough, in the same way that fear brings to pass what one is afraid of, likewise a forced intention makes impossible what one forcibly… Afraid
• Happiness cannot be pursued; it must ensue. Chaos
• The point is not what we expect from life, but rather what life expects from us. Expect
• ...being human always points, and is directed, to something, or someone, other than oneself—be it meaning to fulfill or another human being to encounter. The… Actualization
• Woe to him who saw no more sense in his life, no aim, no purpose, and therefore no point in carrying on. Aim
• An abnormal reaction to an abnormal situation is normal behavior. Abnormal
• To the European, it is a characteristic of the American culture that, again and again, one is commanded and ordered to 'be happy.' But happiness… Actualizing
• A man who could not see the end of his"provisional existence" was not able to aim at an ultimate goal in life. Able
• As the struggle for survival has subsided, the question has emerged: survival for what? Ever more people have the means to live, but no meaning… Emerged
• There are some authors who contend that meanings and values are "nothing but defense mechanisms, reaction formations and sublimations." But as for myself, I would… Authors
• If there is meaning in life at all, then there must be meaning in suffering. All
• 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… Always Decides

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