Man's Search for Meaning

by Viktor E. Frankl

“the last of human freedoms”—the ability to “choose one’s attitude in a given set of circumstances.”

“There are things which must cause you to lose your reason or you have none to lose.”

An abnormal reaction to an abnormal situation is normal behavior.

At such a moment it is not the physical pain which hurts the most (and this applies to adults as much as to punished children); it is the mental agony caused by the injustice, the unreasonableness of it all.

I understood how a man who has nothing left in this world still may know bliss, be it only for a brief moment, in the contemplation of his beloved.

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

When a man finds that it is his destiny to suffer, he will have to accept his suffering as his task; his single and unique task. He will have to acknowledge the fact that even in suffering he is unique and alone in the universe. No one can relieve him of his suffering or suffer in his place. His unique opportunity lies in the way in which he bears his burden.

(What you have experienced, no power on earth can take from you.)

no one has the right to do wrong, not even if wrong has been done to them.

We must never forget that we may also find meaning in life even when confronted with a hopeless situation, when facing a fate that cannot be changed.