Frankl Quotes

Viktor Frankl

Viktor Frankl was a Jewish Psychiatrist living in Vienna, who suffered greatly during the Holocaust of the Second World War. He is the originator of Logotherapy, and has written many books. Most of these quotes can be found in "Man's Search for Meaning".

Quotes

Everything can be taken from a man or a woman 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. 

The last of human freedoms - the ability to chose one's attitude in a given set of circumstances. 

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

Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom. 

We who lived in concentration camps can remember the men who walked through the huts comforting others, giving away their last piece of bread. They may have been few in number, but they offer sufficient proof that 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, to choose one's own way.

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.

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.

Ultimately, man should not ask what the meaning of his life is, but rather must recognize that it is he who is asked. In a word, each man is questioned by life; and he can only answer to life by answering for his own life; to life he can only respond by being responsible.

Everyone has his own specific vocation or mission in life… Therein he cannot be replaced, nor can his life be repeated. Thus, everyone’s task is as unique as is his specific opportunity to implement it.

It is the very pursuit of happiness that thwarts happiness.

A human being is a deciding being.

The last of human freedoms - the ability to chose one's attitude in a given set of circumstances. 

Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom.