Viktor Frankl

"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."

"Those who have a 'why' to live can bear with almost any 'how.'"

"A man who becomes conscious of the responsibility he bears toward a human being who loves him, or toward any human being whose fate depends upon him, can never lose his sense of life's meaningfulness."

"The prisoner who had lost faith in the future—his future—was doomed."

"No group better illustrates the drift toward this ocean—a current powerful enough to carry off even intelligent men—than the group of the so-called 'prominent' prisoners."

"It is the very pursuit of happiness that thwarts happiness."

"One should as a rule respect public opinion in so far as is necessary to avoid starvation and to keep out of prison, but anything that goes beyond this is voluntary submission to an unnecessary tyranny."

"The more one forgets himself—by giving himself to a cause to serve or another person to love—the more human he is."

"Life holds potential meaning under any circumstances, even the most miserable ones."

"Suffering is only unbearable when nobody cares. It becomes bearable the moment somebody listens."

"When we stop asking about the meaning of life, life stops questioning us."

"Freedom is in choosing one's attitude; that is the last freedom that cannot be taken."

"The way a man accepts his fate and all the suffering it entails, the way he takes up his cross, gives him ample opportunity—even under the most difficult circumstances—to add a deeper meaning to his life."

"Human kindness can be found in all groups, even those which as a whole it would be easy to condemn."

"Only those who allow their obscurity to lend a background to another's history can ever truly be content."

"The most important thing is to derive a lesson from every experience."

"What matters is not the meaning of life in general but rather the specific meaning of a person's life at a given moment."

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

"The prisoner who had lost faith in the future—his future—was doomed."

"Those who have a 'why' to live can bear with almost any 'how.'"

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

"The last of the human freedoms—to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances."

"Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response."

"Happiness cannot be pursued; it must ensue."

"Success, like happiness, cannot be pursued; it must ensue, and it only does so as the unintended side effect of one's dedication to a cause greater than oneself."

"Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of human freedoms—his attitude."

"Life is not primarily a quest for pleasure, as Freud believed, nor a quest for power, as Adler believed, but a quest for meaning."

"The meaning of life differs from man to man, from day to day and from hour to hour."

"No man should judge unless he asks himself in absolute honesty whether in a similar situation he might not have done the same."

"We who lived in concentration camps can remember the men who walked through the huts comforting others, giving away their last piece of bread."