Viktor Frankl

"In some ways suffering ceases to be suffering at the moment it finds a meaning."

"If there is a meaning in life at all, then there must be a meaning in suffering."

"Man's capacity to endure pain is remarkably great, provided it has meaning."

"The existentialist psychiatrists are right when they say that modern man is sick because he feels his life is meaningless."

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

"A man who becomes conscious of the responsibility he bears toward a human being who loves him, or to any human being whose existence depends on him, will never be able to throw away his 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."

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

"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."

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

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

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

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

"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 his own work, will never be able to throw away his life."

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

"The last of the human freedoms is to choose one's attitude."

"In some ways suffering ceases to be suffering at the moment it finds a meaning."

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

"Our generation is realistic, for we have come to know man as he really is."

"An active life serves the purpose of giving man a chance to realize values in creative work, while a passive life of enjoyment affords him a chance to receive values."

"The way your question is now put obviously makes an answer impossible. Man's search for meaning is the primary motivation in his life."

"Freedom, however, is not the last word. Freedom is only part of the story and half of the truth."

"Responsibility is the very essence of human existence."

"Being human always points, and in fact always bends, toward something or someone, other than oneself."

"No group consists of members who are all the same. There will always be exceptions."

"Happiness cannot be pursued; it must ensue as the unintended side-effect of one's personal dedication."

"What is to give light must endure burning."

"Love goes very far beyond the physical person of the beloved. It finds its deepest meaning in his spiritual essence."

"When a man finds that it is his destiny to suffer, he will have to accept suffering as his task."