Viktor Frankl Quotes: Wisdom and Insight from the Holocaust Survivor

When we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves.

Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms—to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances.

An abnormal reaction to an abnormal situation is normal behavior.

In the face of suffering, we have a choice. We can choose to become victims or we can choose to become victors.

The salvation of man is through love and in love.

What is to give light must endure burning.

Those who have a ‘why’ to live, can bear with almost any ‘how’.

Man’s search for meaning is the primary motivation in his life.

When we are no longer able to change a situation – we change ourselves.

We must never forget that we may also find meaning in life even when confronted with a hopeless situation, when facing a fate that cannot be changed.

The more you aim at success and make it a target, the more you are going to miss it.

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.

Challenging the meaning of life is the truest expression of the state of being human.

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 Frankl Quotes: Wisdom and Insight from the Holocaust Survivor part 2

Ultimately, man should not ask what the meaning of his life is, but rather he must recognize that it is he who is asked.

For the meaning of life differs from man to man, from day to day and from hour to hour. What matters, therefore, is not the meaning of life in general but rather the specific meaning of a person’s life at a given moment.

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.

Love goes very far beyond the physical person of the beloved. It finds its deepest meaning in his spiritual being, his inner self.

The meaning of life is to give life meaning.

The will to meaning is the main driving force in man.

Live as if you were living already for the second time and as if you had acted the first time as wrongly as you are about to act now.

Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of human freedoms—to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.

Ultimately, man should not ask what the meaning of his life is, but rather he must recognize that it is he who is asked.

We can’t control what happens to us, but we can control how we respond.

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.

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

The last of human freedoms – the ability to choose one’s attitude in a given set of circumstances.

The world is in a bad state, but everything will become still worse unless each of us does his best.

Don’t aim at success. The more you aim at it and make it a target, the more you are going to miss it.

It is the very pursuit of happiness that thwarts happiness.

Man is not fully conditioned and determined but rather determines himself.

What man actually needs is not a tensionless state but rather the striving and struggling for a worthwhile goal, a freely chosen task.

A human being is a deciding being.

Life is never made unbearable by circumstances, but only by lack of meaning and purpose.

The key to happiness and fulfillment in life lies in finding meaning and purpose.

Don’t ask yourself what the meaning of life is; ask yourself what meaning you can bring to life.

Freedom is in danger of degenerating into mere arbitrariness unless it is lived in terms of responsibleness.

Life does not owe us anything; rather, we owe something to life.

The human person is not a mere product of heredity and environment, of forces beyond her control. She is actively involved in her own development, her decisions and choices matter.

Meaning is not something that can be manufactured or created; it is something that needs to be discovered and pursued.

A life with purpose is a life worth living.

Success without purpose is empty and meaningless.

The quality of one’s life is not determined by the quantity of possessions, but by the depth of one’s connections and relationships.

It is not what happens to us that defines us, but how we choose to respond to what happens.

The greatest source of fulfillment in life comes from giving and serving others.

Happiness is not the absence of hardships, but the ability to find joy and meaning in the face of them.

Our greatest strength lies not in our ability to control external circumstances, but in our ability to control our own attitude and response to those circumstances.

Character is not shaped by ease and comfort, but by challenges and adversity.

The true measure of a person is not in their achievements, but in their character and values.

In the face of suffering, we have the opportunity to discover our own resilience and inner strength.