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Quote by Viktor E. Frankl

“An active life serves the purpose of giving man the opportunity to realize value is creative work, while a passive life of enjoyment affords him the opportunity to obtain fulfillment in experiencing beauty, art or nature. But there is also purpose in that life which is almost barren of both creation and enjoyment and which admits of but one possibility of high moral behavior: namely, in man’s attitude to his existence, an existence restricted by external forces. A creative life and a life of enjoyment are banned to him. But not only creativeness and enjoyment are meaningful. If there is a meaning in life at all, then there must be a meaning in suffering. Suffering is an ineradicable part of life, even as fate and death. Without suffering and death human life cannot be complete.”

Book:Man's Search for Meaning

Work

Man's Search for Meaning

This seminal work delves into the author's experiences as a psychiatrist and prisoner in Nazi concentration camps, offering insights into the human capacity for finding meaning and hope amidst extreme suffering. more

Author

Viktor E. Frankl

Viktor E. Frankl was a renowned neurologist and psychologist, born on March 26, 1905, and died on September 2, 1997. He was one of the founders of existential psychology and is known for his experiences in Nazi concentration camps and his book 'Man's Search for Meaning'. more

“And all that time, Franca contained in her breast a storm of anguish and violence so terrible that she had at times, when she was alone and longing to 'break down', to clutch her breast with a fierce answering force to keep the black horror from spurting forth. Her face was calm and benign, always in company, and usually alone too, for she was aware that to play such a part properly allowed of no rest periods, no weak moments of unmasking. She must continue, in her deceit, whole, like the spy who, in order to go on, has to become what he seems. She was, daily, amazed at herself, at her self-control; and at the terrible demons which fed upon her, and in doing so, she realised, fed her. She had begun to need her rage and her hate, even of late her fierce cruel fantasies. She could not, and did not try to, riddle out, rationally order, explain, least of all banish, these horrible consolations, As it seemed, if she were not to die of her love she had to poison it; and even, over its death agonies, to exult. As the days went by, Franca cherished and nourished and developed her suffering, unable to envisage any change or any plan — any machine into which so much relentless force might be fed. Indeed she was afraid to plan or picture a different future of any kind. So long as she stayed silent she had a secret weapon. If she spoke, if once there were the least word, the least crack or fissure, upon which tears and screams could follow, she would have lost her one advantage, her source of ordinary viable life, and would be utterly undone and destroyed.”

Suffering Misery Iris Murdoch Repressed The Message To The Planet Faking It

Book:The Message To The Planet

Source: The Message To The Planet

“Is an orphaned child in a conquered land supposed to lift his head and face his life, and the whole world, as if nothing is ailing him? Doomed is he for burying inside that which crumbles mountains. Damned is he for letting his resentment surface."—Where Will My Heart Beat?”

World Life Suffering Land Child Resentment Mountains

Book:Where Will My Heart Beat?

Source: Where Will My Heart Beat?

“They can be meek that have no other cause. A wretched soul, bruised with adversity, We bid be quiet when we hear it cry; But were we burden’d with like weight of pain, As much, or more, we should ourselves complain: So thou, that hast no unkind mate to grieve thee, With urging helpless patience wouldst relieve me; But, if thou live to see like right bereft, This fool-begg’d patience in thee will be left.”

Suffering Empathy

Book:The Comedy of Errors

Source: The Comedy of Errors