Viktor E. Frankl Quotes - Page 8

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In a last violent protest against the hopelessness of imminent death, I sensed my spirit piercing through the enveloping gloom. I felt it transcend that hopeless, meaningless world, and from somewhere I heard a victorious "Yes" in answer to my question of the existence of an ultimate purpose. At that moment a light was lit in a distant farmhouse, which stood on the horizon as if painted there, in the midst of the miserable gray of a dawning morning in Bavaria. "Et lux in tenebris lucet"-and the light shineth in the darkness.

Viktor E. Frankl

Morning, Light, Darkness

Viktor E. Frankl (2015). “Man's Search For Meaning, Gift Edition”, p.37, Beacon Press

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But my mind clung to my wife's image, imagining it with an uncanny acuteness. I heard her answering me, saw her smile, her frank and encouraging look. Real or not, her look then was more luminous than the sun which was beginning to rise.

Viktor E. Frankl

Real, Wife, Mind

Viktor E. Frankl (2015). “Man's Search For Meaning, Gift Edition”, p.35, Beacon Press

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It is not freedom from conditions, but it is freedom to take a stand toward the conditions.

Viktor E. Frankl

Mans Search For Meaning, Search For Meaning, Conditions

Viktor E. Frankl (2015). “Man's Search For Meaning, Gift Edition”, p.99, Beacon Press

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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 ways, in the final analysis it becomes clear that the sort of person the prisoner became was the result of an inner decision, and not the result of camp influences alone.

Viktor E. Frankl

Stress, Sleep, Decision

Viktor E. Frankl (2017). “Man's Search for Meaning: A Young Adult Edition”, p.69, Beacon Press

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It is true that we can see the therapist as a technician only if we have first viewed the patient as some sort of machine.

Viktor E. Frankl

Firsts, Machines, Patient

Viktor E. Frankl (2000). “Man's Search for Ultimate Meaning”, Basic Books

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A human being is not one thing among others; things determine each other, but man is ultimately self-determining. What he becomes-within the limits of endowment and environment-he has made out of himself.

Viktor E. Frankl

Men, Self, Limits

Viktor E. Frankl (2015). “Man's Search For Meaning, Gift Edition”, p.102, Beacon Press

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The struggle for existence is a struggle 'for' something; it is purposeful and only in so being is it meaningful and able to bring meaning into life.

Viktor E. Frankl

Meaningful, Struggle, Able

Viktor E Frankl (2012). “The Doctor and the Soul: From Psychotherapy to Logotherapy”, p.102, Souvenir Press

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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.

Viktor E. Frankl

Rise Above, Well Known, Life Altering

Viktor E. Frankl (2006). “Man's Search for Meaning”, p.51, Beacon Press

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. . . nothing could touch the strength of my love, and the thoughts of my beloved. Had I known then that my wife was dead, I think that I still would have given myself, undisturbed by that knowledge, to the contemplation of that image, and that my mental conversation with her would have been just as vivid and just as satisfying. "Set me like a seal upon thy heart, love is as strong as death."

Viktor E. Frankl

Strong, Heart, Love Is

Viktor E. Frankl (2015). “Man's Search For Meaning, Gift Edition”, p.36, Beacon Press

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As such, I also bear witness to the unexpected extent to which man is capable of defying and braving even the worst conditions conceivable.

Viktor E. Frankl

Men, Bears, Neurology

Viktor E. Frankl (2015). “Man's Search For Meaning, Gift Edition”, p.99, Beacon Press

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We had to learn...that it did not really matter what we expected from life but rather what life expected from us.

Viktor E. Frankl

Live In The Moment, Matter, Moments

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It is a peculiarity of man that he can only live by looking to the future.

Viktor E. Frankl

Men, Looking To The Future, Mans Search For Meaning

Viktor E. Frankl (2015). “Man's Search For Meaning, Gift Edition”, p.60, Beacon Press

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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 is not only unhappy, but also ashamed of being unhappy.

Viktor E. Frankl

Opportunity, Suffering, Unhappy

Viktor E. Frankl (2006). “Man's Search for Meaning”, p.114, Beacon Press

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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.

Viktor E. Frankl

Men, May, Dignity

Viktor E. Frankl (2006). “Man's Search for Meaning”, p.72, Beacon Press

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Sleep [is like] a dove which has landed near one's hand and stays there as long as one does not pay any attention to it.

Viktor E. Frankl

Sleep, Hands, Long

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Woe to him who saw no more sense in his life, no aim, no purpose, and therefore no point in carrying on.

Viktor E. Frankl

Purpose, Woe, Carrying On

Viktor E. Frankl (2015). “Man's Search For Meaning, Gift Edition”, p.63, Beacon Press

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A sound philosophy of life, I think, may be the most valuable asset for a psychiatrist to have when he is treating a patient.

Viktor E. Frankl

Philosophy, Thinking, Mentor

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Such a value system might be responsible for the fact that the burden of unavoidable unhappiness is increased by unhappiness about being unhappy.

Viktor E. Frankl

Unhappy, Might, Facts

Viktor E. Frankl (2006). “Man's Search for Meaning”, p.114, Beacon Press

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Man's search for meaning is the primary motivation in his life and not a "secondary rationalization" of instinctual drives. This meaning is unique and specific in that it must and can be fulfilled by him alone; only then does it achieve a significance which will satisfy his own will to meaning.

Viktor E. Frankl

Motivation, Unique, Men

Viktor E. Frankl (2015). “Man's Search For Meaning, Gift Edition”, p.78, Beacon Press

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Usually, to be sure, man considers only the stubble field of transitoriness and overlooks the full granaries of the past, wherein he had salvaged once and for all his deeds, his joys and also his sufferings. Nothing can be undone, and nothing can be done away with. I should say having been is the surest kind of being.

Viktor E. Frankl

Past, Men, Joy

Viktor E. Frankl (2017). “Man's Search for Meaning: Young Adult Edition: Young Adult Edition”, p.119, Beacon Press

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No one can take from us the ability to choose our attitudes toward the circumstances in which we find ourselves. This is the last of human freedoms.

Viktor E. Frankl

Attitude, Lasts, Circumstances

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Freedom is in danger of degenerating into mere arbitrariness unless it is lived in terms of responsibleness. That is why I recommend that the Statue of Liberty on the East Coast be supplemented by a Statue of Responsibility on the West Coast.

Viktor E. Frankl

Faith, Inspiration, Responsibility

Viktor E. Frankl (2015). “Man's Search For Meaning, Gift Edition”, p.101, Beacon Press

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We needed to stop asking about the meaning of life.

Viktor E. Frankl

Life, Asking, Mans Search For Meaning

Viktor E. Frankl (2015). “Man's Search For Meaning, Gift Edition”, p.63, Beacon Press

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A man who could not see the end of his"provisional existence" was not able to aim at an ultimate goal in life.

Viktor E. Frankl

Men, Goal, Able

Viktor E. Frankl (2015). “Man's Search For Meaning, Gift Edition”, p.58, Beacon Press

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It is always important to have something yet to do in life.

Viktor E. Frankl

Important

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Born: March 26, 1905
Died: September 2, 1997
Occupation: M.D.
Cite this Page: Citation

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