What was really needed was a fundamental change in our attitude toward life. We had to learn ourselves and, furthermore, we had to teach the despairing men, that it did not really matter what we expected from life, but rather what life expected from us.
VIKTOR E. FRANKLMan can only find meaning for his existence in something outside himself.
More Viktor E. Frankl Quotes
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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.
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Success, like happiness, is the unexpected side effect of one’s personal dedication to a cause greater than oneself.
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If there is meaning in life at all, then there must be meaning in suffering.
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Ultimately, we are not subject to the conditions that confront us; rather, these conditions are subject to our decision … we must decide whether we will face up or give in, whether or not we will let ourselves be determined by the conditions.
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Man’s search for meaning is the chief motivation of his life.
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It said to me, ‘I am here — I am here — I am life, eternal life.’
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One should not search for an abstract meaning of life … Life can be made meaningful in a threefold way: first, through what we give to life … second, by what we take from the world … third, through the stand we take toward a fate we no longer can change.
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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.
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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.
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For success, like happiness, cannot be pursued; it must ensue, and it only does so as the unintended side-effect of one’s personal dedication to a cause greater than oneself or as the by-product of one’s surrender to a person other than oneself.
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Nothing is likely to help a person overcome or endure troubles than the consciousness of having a task in life.
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In his creative work the artist is dependent on sources and resources deriving from the spiritual unconscious.
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I am absolutely convinced that the gas chambers of Auschwitz, Treblinka, and Maidanek were ultimately prepared not in some ministry or other in Berlin, but rather at the desks and in the lecture halls of nihilistic scientists and philosophers.
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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.
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The meaning of our existence is not invented by ourselves, but rather detected.
VIKTOR E. FRANKL