“The quest for meaning is the key to mental health and human flourishing”

Happiness cannot be pursued; it must ensue.

You don’t create your mission in life – you detect it.

The point is not what we expect from life, but rather what life expects from us.

To suffer unecessarily is masochistic rather than heroic.

Everyone has his own specific vocation or mission in life; everyone must carry out a concrete assignment that demands fulfillment.

Success, like happiness, is the unexpected side effect of one’s personal dedication to a cause greater than oneself.

Being tolerant does not mean that I share another one’s belief. But it does mean that I acknowledge another one’s right to believe, and obey, his own conscience.

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.

A man’s concern, even his despair, over the worthwhileness of life is an existential distress but by no means a mental disease.

Either belief in God is unconditional or it is no belief at all.

Our greatest human freedom is that, despite whatever our physical situation is in life, we are always free to choose our thoughts.

There are two races of men in this world but only these two: the race of the decent man and the race of the indecent man.

It isn’t the past which holds us back, it’s the future; and how we undermine it, today.

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

Pain is only bearable if we know it will end, not if we deny it exists.

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.

Veracity is a plant of paradise, and the seeds have never flourished beyond the walls.

We were designed to know, serve, and love God supremely – and when we are faithful to that design, we flourish.

Democracy can hardly be expected to flourish in societies where political and economic power is being progressively concentrated and centralized. But the progress of technology has led and is still leading to just such a concentration and centralization of power.

Every major religion today is a winner in the Darwinian struggle waged among cultures, and none ever flourished by tolerating its rivals.

Religion flourishes in greater purity, without than with the aid of Government.

Letting a hundred flowers blossom and a hundred schools of thought contend is the policy for promoting the progress of the arts and the sciences and a flourishing culture in our land.

Catchphrases flourish in contemporary American English.

To be shown love is to feel ourselves the object of concern: our presence is noted, our name is registered, our views are listened to, our failings are treated with indulgence and our needs are ministered to. And under such care, we flourish.