Man's Search for Meaning

"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."

"Frankly, I do not mind if the reader calls my concepts petty or unimportant so long as he finds them useful."

"Forces beyond your control can take away everything you possess except one thing: your freedom to choose how you will respond."

"The only thing we have is our attitude, and that is the one thing the enemy cannot touch."

"Life's meaning differs from man to man, from day to day and from hour to hour."

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

"I became acquainted with those martyrs whose behavior in camp, whose suffering and death, bore witness to the greatness of the human spirit."

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

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

"What is to give light must endure burning."

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

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

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

"Responsibility is the very essence of human existence."

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

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

"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."

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

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

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

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

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

"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."

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

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

"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."

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