To be sure, man's search for meaning may arouse inner tension rather than inner equilibrium. However, precisely such tension is an indispensable prerequisite of mental health. There is nothing in the world, I venture to say, that would so effectively help one to survive even the worst conditions as the knowledge that there is a meaning in one's life. There is much wisdom in the words of Nietzsche: "He who has a why to live for can bear almost any how
Live as if you were living a second time, and as though you had acted wrongly the first time.
For the first time in my life I saw the truth as it is set into song by so many poets, proclaimed as the final wisdom by so many thinkers. The truth - that Love is the ultimate and highest goal to which man can aspire. Then I grasped the meaning of the greatest secret that human poetry and human thought and belief have to impart: The salvation of man is through love and in love.
The one thing you can’t take away from me is the way I choose to respond to what you do to me. The last of one’s freedoms is to choose ones attitude in any given circumstance.
In some ways suffering ceases to be suffering at the moment it finds a meaning, such as the meaning of a sacrifice.
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 not he is actually present, whether or not he is still alive at all, ceases somehow to be of importance.
A man who becomes conscious of the responsibility he bears toward a human being who affectionately waits for him, or to an unfinished work, will never be able to throw away his life. He knows the "why" for his existence, and will be able to bear almost any "how."
The quest for meaning is the key to mental health and human flourishing
No man should judge unless he asks himself in absolute honesty whether in a similar situation he might not have done the same.
You don't create your mission in life - you detect it.
...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 more one forgets himself—by giving himself to a cause to serve or another person to love—the more human he is and the more he actualizes himself.... What is called self-actualization is not an attainable aim at all, for the simple reason that the more one would strive for it, the more he would miss it. In other words, self-actualization is possible only as a side-effect of self-transcendence.
Just as a small fire is extinguished by the storm whereas a large fire is enhanced by it - likewise a weak faith is weakened by predicament and catastrophes whereas a strong faith is strengthened by them.
Our greatest freedom is the freedom to choose our attitude.
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.
Life asks of every individual a contribution, and it is up to that individual to discover what it should be
An abnormal reaction to an abnormal situation is normal behavior.
If we take a man as he is, we make him worse, but if we take man as he should be we make him capable of becoming what he can be.
The more one forgets one’s own self, the more human the person becomes.
In times of crisis, people reach for meaning. Meaning is strength. Our survival may depend on our seeking and finding it.
Even when it is not fully attained, we become better by striving for a higher goal.
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’s main concern is not to gain pleasure or to avoid pain but rather to see a meaning in his life.
We can discover this meaning in life in three different ways: 1. by doing a deed; 2. by experiencing a value; and 3. by suffering.
Humor was another of the soul's weapons in the fight for self-preservation.
Each of us carries a unique spark of the divine, and each of us is also an inseparable part of the web of life.
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