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Man's Search For Meaning, Gift Edition

Book by Viktor E. Frankl · 50 quotes · Search For Meaning, Mans Search For Meaning, Men

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Man's Search For Meaning, Gift Edition Quotes

“Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of human freedoms - to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one's own way.”

MenWayInspirationalHumansLastsGivenLeadershipFreedomPowerfulAttitudeTakenOne ThingSocietyCircumstancesJudgmentMental HealthGrievingPositive AttitudeConcentrationMost PowerfulBeing HappyMy AttitudeFreedom Of ChoiceSearch For MeaningGrief And HealingPositive Thinking And AttitudeAuschwitzHuman FreedomConcentration CampHutsWinning AttitudeBest AttitudeFreedom To ChooseKeep A Positive AttitudePositive Thinking AttitudeGriefingMans Search For MeaningAttitude Is EverythingPositive Mental AttitudeGreat Positive AttitudeGrief LossAttitudes And SuccessPositive Attitude And SuccessThose GrievingHuman CompassionDeath And GrievingGrief ComfortCan Do AttitudeGrief HealingCool AttitudeInspirational FreedomGrief And HopeDeath GrievingGrieving And HealingComfort The GrievingGrieving LossGrieving A LossGrieving And LossStimulus And ResponseVictims Of CircumstanceChoosing One
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“Freedom is in danger of degenerating into mere arbitrariness unless it is lived in terms of responsibleness. That is why I recommend that the Statue of Liberty on the East Coast be supplemented by a Statue of Responsibility on the West Coast.”

InspirationFaithTermResponsibilityLibertyDangerMereWestEastChristian InspirationalCoastStatuesSearch For MeaningWest CoastEast CoastMans Search For MeaningStatue Of Liberty
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“It did not really matter what we expected from life, but rather what life expected from us. We needed to stop asking about the meaning of life, and instead to think of ourselves as those who were being questioned by life—daily and hourly. Our answer must consist, not in talk and meditation, but in right action and in right conduct. 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.”

ThinkingLifeMeanMatterProblemActionIndividualAnswersResponsibilityMeditationNeededTasksAskingIndividualityExpectedMeaning Of LifeDaily LifeSearch For MeaningRight AnswersRight ActionMans Search For MeaningRight Conduct
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“We who lived in concentration camps can remember the men who walked through the huts comforting others, giving away their last piece of bread. They may have been few in number, but they offer sufficient proof that 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, to choose one's own way.”

MenWayLifeGivingHumansMayHas BeensLastsRememberGivenPeaceLeadershipFreedomNumbersAttitudeCompassionTakenPiecesOne ThingPositiveCircumstancesOffersProofBreadPositive AttitudeSufficientConcentrationCampsGenocideHolocaustComfortingSearch For MeaningHuman FreedomConcentration CampHutsWinning AttitudeFreedom To ChooseKeep A Positive AttitudeMans Search For MeaningAttitude Is EverythingGreat Positive AttitudeAttitudes And SuccessPositive Attitude And SuccessHuman CompassionHave A Great DayCan Do AttitudeStimulus And ResponseNeurologists
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“For what then matters is to bear witness to the uniquely human potential at its best, which is to transform a personal tragedy into a triumph, to turn one’s predicament into a human achievement.”

HumansMatterTurnsBearsAchievementTragedyWitnessTriumphSearch For MeaningHuman PotentialPredicamentsMans Search For MeaningIncurable DiseaseHopeless SituationsPersonal Tragedy
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“For the first time in my life I saw the truth as it is set into song by so many poets, proclaimed as the final wisdom by so many thinkers. The truth - that Love is the ultimate and highest goal to which man can aspire. 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.”

MenLifeFirstsHumansSongBeliefGoalChangeLove IsSecretSawsPoetHighestFirst TimeUltimateSalvationFinalsThinkerAspireImpartSearch For MeaningHuman ThoughtMans Search For Meaning
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“A human being is not one thing among others; things determine each other, but man is ultimately self-determining. What he becomes - within the limits of endowment and environment- he has made out of himself. In the concentration camps, for example, in this living laboratory and on this testing ground, we watched and witnessed some of our comrades behave like swine while others behaved like saints. Man has both potentialities within himself; which one is actualized depends on decisions but not on conditions.”

MenHumansMadeSelfHuman BeingsDecisionEnvironmentOne ThingConditionsExampleDependsLimitsSaintDetermineBehaveConcentrationCampsTestingLaboratoryComradeSearch For MeaningEndowmentConcentration CampSwine
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“Our generation is realistic, for we have come to know man as he really is. After all, man is that being who invented the gas chambers of Auschwitz; however, he is also that being who entered those gas chambers upright, with the Lord's Prayer or the Shema Yisrael on his lips.”

KnowsMenPrayerLordGenerationsLipsGasRealisticChamberOur GenerationSearch For MeaningAuschwitzMans Search For MeaningGas Chambers
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“To the European, it is a characteristic of the American culture that, again and again, one is commanded and ordered to 'be happy.' But happiness cannot be pursued; it must ensue. One must have a reason to 'be happy.' Once the reason is found, however, one becomes happy automatically. As we see, a human being is not one in pursuit of happiness but rather in search of a reason to become happy, last but not least, through actualizing the potential meaning inherent and dormant in a given situation.”

HumansReasonLastsCultureFoundGivenHuman BeingsSituationPursuitCharacteristicsInherentAgain And AgainPursuedPursuit Of HappinessAmerican CultureSearch For MeaningDormantReasons To Be Happy
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“To draw an analogy: a man's suffering is similar to the behavior of a gas. If a certain quantity of gas is pumped into an empty chamber, it will fill the chamber completely and evenly, no matter how big the chamber. Thus suffering completely fills the human soul and conscious mind, no matter whether the suffering is great or little. Therefore the "size" of human suffering is absolutely relative.”

IfsMenMindHumansLittlesSoulMatterBigsCertainSufferingBehaviorDrawsConsciousEmptySizeGasRelativeQuantityChamberHuman SoulAnalogiesSearch For MeaningConscious MindHuman SufferingMans Search For Meaning
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“I shall never forget how I was roused one night by the groans of a fellow prisoner, who threw himself about in his sleep, obviously having a horrible nightmare. Since I had always been especially sorry for people who suffered from fearful dreams or deliria, I wanted to wake the poor man. Suddenly I drew back the hand which was ready to shake him, frightened at the thing I was about to do. At that moment I became intensely conscious of the fact that no dream, no matter how horrible, could be as bad as the reality of the camp which surrounded us, and to which I was about to recall him.”

PeopleMenMatterMomentsFactsDreamHandsRealityWantedNightSleepForgetPoorReadyConsciousFellowsSorryHorribleShakesNightmareThat MomentNever ForgetFrightenedPrisonerCampsFearfulRecallsOne NightPoor ManSearch For MeaningDelirium
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“One evening, when we were already resting on the floor of our hut, dead tired, soup bowls in hand, a fellow prisoner rushed in and asked us to run out to the assembly grounds and see the wonderful sunset. Standing outside we saw sinister clouds glowing in the west and the whole sky alive with clouds of ever-changing shapes and colors, from steel blue to blood red. The desolate grey mud huts provided a sharp contrast, while the puddles on the muddy ground reflected the glowing sky. Then, after minutes of moving silence, one prisoner said to another, "How beautiful the world could be.”

WorldSaidWholeHandsRunningBeautifulMovingSilenceSawsAliveWonderfulBloodSkyMinutesColorShapesRedStandingBlueFellowsTiredWestCloudsEveningSunsetPrisonerContrastBowlsSteelSoupGreyMudAssemblyGlowingSinisterMuddySearch For MeaningDesolateHutsPuddles
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“A man who becomes conscious of the responsibility he bears toward a human being who affectionately waits for him, or to an unfinished work, will never be able to throw away his life. He knows the "why" for his existence, and will be able to bear almost any "how."”

KnowsMenLifeHumansAblePurposeWaitingHuman BeingsExistenceResponsibilityVisionInspirational LifeBearsConsciousUnfinishedSearch For MeaningMans Search For MeaningWait For HimUnfinished Work
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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. . . . 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.”

MenWayFactsLyingSufferingUniverseOpportunityAcceptingDestinyAcceptanceBearsUniqueTasksBurdenAcknowledgeSearch For MeaningMans Search For MeaningUnique Opportunities
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“Love is the only way to grasp another human being in the innermost core of his personality. No one can become fully aware of the very essence of another human being unless he loves him. By his love he is enabled to see the essential traits and features.”

WayLoveHumansHuman BeingsLove IsPersonalityEssentialsEssenceCoreFeaturesTraitsHis LoveSearch For MeaningMans Search For Meaning
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“What will it matter to him if he notices that he is growing old? Has he any reason to envy the young people whom he sees, or wax nostalgic over his own lost youth? What reasons has he to envy a young person? For the possibilities that a young person has, the future which is in store for him? "No, thank you," he will think. "Instead of possibilities, I have realities in my past, not only the reality of work done and love loved, but of sufferings bravely suffered. These sufferings are even the things of which I am most proud, though these things are things that cannot inspire envy."”

PeopleIfsThinkingPersonsMatterReasonDoneRealityPastYoungSufferingLostGrowingPossibilityYouthInspireProudAnd LoveEnvyStoresGrowing OldMy PastNostalgicWork DoneSearch For MeaningMans Search For MeaningLost Youth
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“. . . nothing could touch the strength of my love, and the thoughts of my beloved. Had I known then that my wife was dead, I think that I still would have given myself, undisturbed by that knowledge, to the contemplation of that image, and that my mental conversation with her would have been just as vivid and just as satisfying. "Set me like a seal upon thy heart, love is as strong as death."”

ThinkingHeartHas BeensStillsStrongGivenJusticeLove IsKnownWifeConversationMy WifeBelovedContemplationSatisfyingVividSealsHeart LoveSearch For Meaning
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“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.”

KnowsMenMindStatesBodyCausesUnderstandingFriendshipLossKnow HowEffectsMy FriendsConnectionsUltimateExpectedLiberationDisappointedState Of MindSearch For MeaningImmunity
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