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Viktor E. Frankl

Viktor E. Frankl Quotes

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Famous Viktor E. Frankl Quotes

“Those who know how close the connection is between the state of mind of a man-his courage and hope, or lack of them-and the state of immunity of his body will understand that the sudden loss of hope and courage can have a deadly effect. The ultimate cause of my friend's death was that the expected liberation did not come and he was severely disappointed.”

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Book:Man's Search For Meaning, Gift Edition
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“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.”

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Book:Man's Search for Meaning
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“No one can become fully aware of the very essence of another human being until he loves him. By his love he is enabled to see the essential traits and features in the beloved person; and even more, he sees that which is potential in him, which is not yet actualized. Furthermore, by his love, the loving person enables the beloved person to actualize these potentialities. By making him aware of what he can be and what he should become, he makes these potentialities come true.”

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Author:Viktor E. Frankl
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“Only to the extent that someone is living out this self transcendence of human existence, is he truly human or does he become his true self. He becomes so, not by concerning himself with his self's actualization, but by forgetting himself and giving himself, overlooking himself and focusing outward.”

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Book:The Unheard Cry for Meaning: Psychotherapy and Humanism
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“[Speaking of his experience in a concentration camp:] As we said before, any attempt to restore a man's inner strength in the camp had first to succeed in showing him some future goal...Woe to him who saw no more sense in his life, no aim, no purpose, and therefore no point in carrying on. He was soon lost.”

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Author:Viktor E. Frankl
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“In a last violent protest against the hopelessness of imminent death, I sensed my spirit piercing through the enveloping gloom. I felt it transcend that hopeless, meaningless world, and from somewhere I heard a victorious "Yes" in answer to my question of the existence of an ultimate purpose. At that moment a light was lit in a distant farmhouse, which stood on the horizon as if painted there, in the midst of the miserable gray of a dawning morning in Bavaria. "Et lux in tenebris lucet"-and the light shineth in the darkness.”

IfsWorldMomentsLightLastsSpiritPurposeFeltAnswersExistenceMorningDarknessHeardUltimateViolentMiserableProtestMidstHopelessThat MomentHorizonGrayMeaninglessHopelessnessLitGloomSearch For MeaningPiercingsImminent Death
Book:Man's Search For Meaning, Gift Edition
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“In psychiatry there is a certain condition known as delusion of reprieve. The condemned man, immediately before his execution, gets the illusion that he might be reprieved at the very last minute. No one could yet grasp the fact that everything would be taken away. all we possessed, literally, was our naked existence.”

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Author:Viktor E. Frankl
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“I understood how a man who has nothing left in this world may still know bliss, be it only for a brief moment, in the contemplation of his beloved. In a position of utter desolation, when a man cannot express himself in positive action, when his only achievement may consist in enduring his sufferings in the right way - an honorable way - in such a position man can, through loving contemplation of the image he carries of his beloved, achieve fulfillment.”

KnowsMenWorldWayMayStillsMomentsActionSufferingLeftUnderstandingAchievePositionThis WorldAchievementUnderstoodEndureFulfillmentBelovedBlissContemplationCarrieHonorableRight WayDesolationSearch For MeaningMans Search For MeaningBrief Moments
Book:Man's Search For Meaning, Gift Edition
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“Man's search for meaning is the primary motivation in his life and not a "secondary rationalization" of instinctual drives. This meaning is unique and specific in that it must and can be fulfilled by him alone; only then does it achieve a significance which will satisfy his own will to meaning.”

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Book:Man's Search For Meaning, Gift Edition
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“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.”

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Author:Viktor E. Frankl
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“I want you to listen to what your conscience commands you to do and go on to carry it out to the best of your knowledge. Then you will live to see that in the long run- in the long run, I say! - success will follow you precisely because you had forgotten to think of it.”

ThinkingWantLongRunningGoes OnConscienceForgottenCommandLong RunsI Want YouSearch For MeaningMans Search For MeaningAdmonish
Book:Man's Search For Meaning, Gift Edition
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