This is the core of the human spirit … If we can find something to live for – if we can find some meaning to put at the center of our lives – even the worst kind of suffering becomes bearable.
VIKTOR E. FRANKLIt isn’t the past which holds us back, it’s the future; and how we undermine it, today.
More Viktor E. Frankl Quotes
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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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As such, I also bear witness to the unexpected extent to which man is capable of defying and braving even the worst conditions conceivable.
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Our greatest human freedom is that, despite whatever our physical situation is in life, WE ARE ALWAYS FREE TO CHOOSE OUR THOUGHTS!
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You can take away my wife, you can take away my children, you can strip me of my clothes and my freedom, but there is one thing no person can ever take away from me – and that is my freedom to choose how I will react to what happens to me!
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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.
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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.
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Human kindness can be found in all groups, even those which as a whole it would be easy to condemn.
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Thus, human existence-at least as long as it has not been neurotically distorted-is always directed to something, or someone, other than itself, be it a meaning to fulfill or another human being to encounter lovingly.
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When we are no longer able to change a situation – we are challenged to change ourselves.
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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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Our main motivation for living is our will to find meaning in life.
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Ultimately, man should not ask what the meaning of his life is, but rather he must recognize that it is he who is asked.
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The meaning of our existence is not invented by ourselves, but rather detected.
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Once an individual’s search for meaning is successful, it not only renders him happy but also gives him the capability to cope with suffering
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The more one forgives 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.
VIKTOR E. FRANKL