Man's Search for Meaning

"Man's search for meaning is the primary motivation in his life"

"Life is not primarily a quest for pleasure or a quest for power, it is a quest for meaning"

"It did not really matter what we expected from life, but rather what life expected from us"

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

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

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

"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"

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

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

"Don't aim at success; the more you aim at it and make it a target, the more you are going to miss it."

"Freedom of will is the ability to choose one's attitude in any circumstance."

"The more one forgoes the pursuit of happiness, the more it will come to him."

"To live is to suffer, to survive is to find some meaning in the suffering."

"Life's meaning is found not in possessions but in purpose."

"It is impossible to imagine the earth without suffering."

"We must never forget that we may also find meaning in life even when confronted with a hopeless situation."

"The search for meaning is the primary human motivation."

"Life is not primarily a quest for pleasure or a quest for power, but a quest for meaning."

"Fundamentally, therefore, any man can, even under the most difficult circumstances, decide what shall become of him—mentally and spiritually."

"Our main motivation is to find meaning in our lives."

"The meaning we give to our lives is not invented by ourselves alone, but rather discovered by us in dialogue with life itself."

"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."

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

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

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

"Being human always points, and in pointing, goes beyond itself."

"Love is the only way to grasp another human being in the innermost core of his personality."

"Happiness ensues from the pursuit of meaning rather than as a direct result of seeking it."

"The last of human freedoms is to choose one's attitude in any given circumstance."

"No one can take away my freedom to choose my response."