Quote

What is demanded of man is not, as some existential philosophers teach, to endure the meaninglessness of life, but rather to bear his incapacity to grasp its unconditional meaningfulness in rational terms.

Viktor E. Frankl

Change background

T
T
T

Change font

TAGS & TOPICS

Viktor E. Frankl
Age: 92 †
Born: 1905
Born: March 26
Died: 1997
Died: September 2
Existential Therapist
Neurologist
Professor
Psychiatrist
Psychologist
Psychotherapist
Surgeon
Writer
Vienna
Austria
Viktor E. Frankl
Viktor Emil Frankl
Life
Endure
Incapacity
Bear
Demanded
Bears
Existential
Terms
Unconditional
Teach
Philosophers
Term
Grasp
Rather
Philosopher
Men
Rational
Meaningfulness

More quotes by Viktor E. Frankl

Image
I became acquainted with those martyrs whose behavior in camp, whose suffering and death, bore witness to the fact that the last inner freedom cannot be lost.
Viktor E. Frankl
Image
When we are no longer able to change a situation - we are challenged to change ourselves.
Viktor E. Frankl
Image
Challenging the meaning of life is the truest expression of the state of being human.
Viktor E. Frankl
Image
Happiness cannot be attained by wanting to be happy - it must come as the unintended consequence of working for a goal greater than oneself.
Viktor E. Frankl
Image
Ironically enough, in the same way that fear brings to pass what one is afraid of, likewise a forced intention makes impossible what one forcibly wishes... Pleasure is, and must remain, a side-effect or by-product, and is destroyed and spoiled to the degree to which it is made a goal in itself.
Viktor E. Frankl
Image
Human kindness can be found in all groups, even those which as a whole it would be easy to condemn.
Viktor E. Frankl
Image
Love is the only way to grasp another human being in the innermost core of his personality
Viktor E. Frankl
Image
Man is not fully conditioned and determined but rather determines himself whether he gives in to conditions or stands up to them. In other words, man is ultimately self-determining. Man does not simply exist but always decides what his existence will be, what he will become in the next moment.
Viktor E. Frankl
Image
Set me like a seal upon thy heart, love is as strong as death.
Viktor E. Frankl
Image
We had to learn...that it did not really matter what we expected from life but rather what life expected from us.
Viktor E. Frankl
Image
The more one forgets one’s own self, the more human the person becomes.
Viktor E. Frankl
Image
The more one forgives himself - by giving himself to a cause to serve or another person to love - the more human he is and the more he actualizes himself.
Viktor E. Frankl
Image
Most important, however, is the third avenue to meaning in life: even the helpless victim of a hopeless situation, facing a fate he cannot change, may rise above himself, may grow beyond himself, and by so doing change himself. He may turn a personal tragedy into a triumph.
Viktor E. Frankl
Image
Life ultimately means taking the responsibility to find the right answer to its problems and to fulfill the tasks which it constantly sets for each individual.
Viktor E. Frankl
Image
This is the core of the human spirit ... If we can find something to live for - if we can find some meaning to put at the center of our lives - even the worst kind of suffering becomes bearable.
Viktor E. Frankl
Image
For success, like happiness, cannot be pursued it must ensue, and it only does so as the unintended side-effect of one's personal dedication to a cause greater than oneself or as the by-product of one's surrender to a person other than oneself.
Viktor E. Frankl
Image
There are two races of men in this world but only these two: the race of the decent man and the race of the indecent man.
Viktor E. Frankl
Image
Man is not fully conditioned and determined but rather determines himself whether he gives in to conditions or stands up to them.
Viktor E. Frankl
Image
Then I grasped the meaning of the greatest secret that human poetry and human thought and belief have to impart: The salvation of man is through love and in love.
Viktor E. Frankl
Image
As for the concept of collective guilt, I personally think that it is totally unjustified to hold one person responsible for the behavior of another person or a collective of persons.
Viktor E. Frankl