The 70 best phrases of Viktor Frankl

Victor Frankl He was a well-known neurologist, psychiatrist and also a philosopher. Of Austrian origin belonging to the 20th century, he lived from 1905 to 1997 and he was well known for being the founder of speech therapy as a therapy and existential analysis.

His exceptionality lies in the fact that he lived for almost four years (1942-1945) in Nazi concentration camps, including Auschwiz and Dachau.

The 70 most famous phrases of Viktor Frankl

As a result of these arduous and difficult experiences, Vicktor Frankl wrote a book entitled "Man's Search for Meaning", which would soon become a best seller.

Man's Search for Meaning was published under two different names: in 1959 it was published in 1959 as From Death-Camp to Existentialism and in 1962 as Man's Search for Meaning.

But the truth is that throughout his life he published more than 20 books. His legacy of thoughts, famous quotes and ideas is long and rich and In this article we leave you the 70 best phrases of Viktor Frankl, most of them taken from his best seller "The man in search of meaning."

1. When we can no longer change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves.

He phrases that he wants to say that coping with situations lies in ourselves, not in the situations themselves.

2. Success, like happiness, is the unexpected side effect of personal dedication to a cause greater than oneself.

Here Viktor Frankl talks about altruism and thinking about others.

3. Decisions, not conditions, determine who we are.

Deciding and defending our decisions will shape our 'I', beyond external circumstances.

4. Life is never made unbearable by circumstances, but only by lack of meaning and purpose.

Here Frankl returns to value the sense of the will and the decisions of oneself.

5. It is not the past that stops us, it is the future; and how we weaken it, today.

Sometimes the future scares us, it doesn't make us move forward.

6. Our greatest human freedom is that, regardless of our physical situation in life, we are always free to choose our thoughts!

Freedom lies essentially in choosing and thinking as we really want.

7. He lives as if you were living a second time, and as if you had done wrong the first time.

He makes the most of life, learning from your mistakes.

8. No man should judge unless he asks himself with absolute honesty whether in a similar situation he might not have done the same.

Here Frankl values ​​empathy.

9. The meaning of my life is to help others find meaning in theirs.

Here he returns to speak of altruism and generosity, as a way to achieve one's own happiness.

10. Being tolerant does not mean that you share someone else's belief. But it means that I acknowledge the right of another to believe and obey his own conscience.

In this sentence Frankl tells us about respecting and tolerating the opinions and acts of others.

11. Humor is another of the soul's weapons in the struggle for self-preservation.

Humor as a resource to be oneself.

12. 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.

In this sentence Frankl speaks to us of two opposite polarities about the human condition: decency and indecency.

13. Between the stimulus and the response there is a space. In that space we have the power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom.

In this sentence Frankl speaks to us again about the value of deciding.

14. Pain is only bearable if we know it will end, not if we deny that it exists.

Frankl accepted that pain was part of life, but if we know how to deal with it, we can better manage happiness.

15. Suffering unnecessarily is masochistic rather than heroic.

Here Frankl tells us that it is not worth suffering just to show heroism or bravery.

16. When a man discovers that it is his destiny to suffer from him…his only chance lies in the way he bears his burden.

Again, Frankl talking about managing the decisions of what surrounds us to be happier.

17. The existential emptiness manifests itself mainly in a state of boredom.

Boredom as a prelude to feeling empty.

18. Love is the only way to capture another human being in the deepest core of your personality.

Frankl said that love and its essence are the basis of the human being.

19. Logotherapy considers man as a being whose main concern is to fulfill a meaning and in actualizing the values ​​of it, rather than in the mere gratification and satisfaction of impulses and instincts.

In this sentence Frankl tells us about one of his contributions to science; the logotherapy, which teaches us to have values ​​and fullness in what you do.

20. Every human being has the freedom to change at any moment.

In this phrase Frankl speaks to us again about the power of freedom to be who one really wants to be.

21. At last I understood 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 love.

Once again Frankl defends love as the essence of life and of the human being.

22. Our greatest freedom is the freedom to choose our attitude.

In this phrase, Frankl once again values ​​freedom, as one of our most precious assets.

23. I do not forget any good deed that has been done to me, and I do not hold a grudge for a bad one.

He phrase that he teaches us how not to deny the past, considering it a vehicle to become who we are today.

24. Forces beyond your control can take away everything you have except one thing, your freedom to choose how you will respond to the situation.

Again Frankl talking about the weight and value of freedom.

25. When a person cannot find a deep sense of meaning from him, he is distracted with pleasure.

In this sentence, Frankl criticizes pleasure as a way of escaping when we don't really want to face certain things about ourselves.

26. You don't create your mission in life, you detect it.

In this phrase Frankl says that the purpose of your life you sense it, you see it, you do not simply create it.

27. An abnormal reaction to an abnormal situation is normal behavior.

In this sentence Frankl speaks of coherence with our behaviors.

28. We can discover this meaning in life in three different ways: 1. doing a deed; 2. experiencing a value; and 3. suffering.

In this sentence Frankl reveals his ideas about existentialism; doing something creative and introspective like writing, living something of value, and suffering for something.

29. If there is any meaning in life, then there must be meaning in suffering.

Life is also made up of suffering and this does not have to be in vain.

30. The attempt to develop a sense of humor and see things humorously is a kind of trick learned while mastering the art of living.

Here again Frankl speaks to us about humor as a way of salvation while we manage certain things that happen to us.

31. Life is not primarily a search for pleasure, as Freud believed, nor a search for power, as Alfred Adler taught, but rather a search for meaning. The best task for any person is to find meaning in his own life.

In this sentence Frankl speaks to us again about the search for the meaning of life.

32. And then, after taking a few steps in silence, one prisoner said to another: "How beautiful the world could be!"

He says that he refers to the concentration camps again, since despite these horrible circumstances, the contemplation of beauty could continue to persist.

33. Somehow, suffering ceases to be suffering the moment it finds a meaning, like the meaning of a sacrifice.

In this sentence Frankl returns to value suffering; It gives you meaning in life.

34. Death can only cause fear to those who do not know how to fill the time they are given to live.

In this phrase, Frankl teaches us that we should take advantage of life. If not, we will probably be more afraid of death.

35. Man is the son of his past but not his slave, and he is the father of his future.

The past should not be a burden for us, and one should be able to choose the future from it.

36. Being responsible means being selective, choosing.

In this sentence, Frankl once again values ​​the fact of choosing.

37. In other words, self-realization cannot be reached when it is considered.

This phrase by Frankl tells us that personal fulfillment must occur when it is done without prior will or interest.

38. Only to the same extent that man is committed to fulfilling the meaning of his life, to that same extent he self-realizes.

When there is a commitment to oneself and to one's sense of existence, then there is self-realization.

39. If it is not in your hands to change a situation that causes you pain, you can always choose the attitude with which you face that suffering.

Again through this phrase Frankl speaks to us of the value of choosing how to face the adverse circumstances of life.

40. Man can retain a vestige of spiritual freedom, of mental independence, even in dire circumstances of psychic and physical stress.

Even in adversities, man remains free of thought.

41. Literally speaking, the only thing we owned was our bare existence.

Our true essence is not made up of anything material, but of everything more spiritual.

42. Love is a phenomenon as primary as sex can be. Normally sex is a way of expressing love.

Both sex and love are part of the human being as something essential, and one is manifested through the other.

43. Love is the highest and most essential goal to which the human being can aspire...the fullness of human life is in love and is realized through it.

In this phrase, Frankl speaks to us again about love and its importance and how to reach fulfillment through it.

44. Fear makes what one fears happen.

Being afraid, unfortunately we end up attracting what scares us.

45. Ultimately living means taking responsibility for finding the right answer to the problems that this poses and fulfill the tasks that life continually assigns to each individual.

In this phrase, Frankl speaks to us about fulfillment, sacrifice, accepting and fulfilling life.

46. You can turn experience into victories, life into an internal triumph.

Again Frankl tells us how through lived experiences we can find satisfaction and triumph.

47. Freedom is nothing more than the negative aspect of any phenomenon, whose positive aspect is responsibility.

All freedom is subject to the responsibility we have to possess it.

48. Who could blame them for trying to get high under such circumstances? (...) They knew very well that any day they would be replaced by another consignment and they would have to leave their forced role as executors to become victims.

In this sentence Frankl tells us about the concentration camps, and that in the end everyone would end up being victims of heartbreaking experiences.

49. Love is the only way to grasp another human being in the depths of his personality.

Here Frankl speaks to us of love as a way to apprehend, in the sense of feeling deeply how the other is.

50. The person who knows the "why" of its existence will be able to bear almost any "how".

In this sentence Frankl tells us that the 'why' and the meaning of things justifies the circumstances.

51. Whatever a person becomes - within the limits of his faculties and his environment - he has to do for himself.

Again Frankl highlights the freedom to choose and be oneself, as well as the importance of it.

52. When we are no longer able to change a situation, we face the challenge of changing ourselves.

In this sentence Frankl tells us that it is essential to change our perception of things as well as our way of thinking, when necessary and before difficult situations.

53. Those of us who were in concentration camps remember the men who went from barracks to barracks comforting others, giving them the last piece of bread they had left. They may have been few in number, but they offered proof enough that everything can be taken from man except one thing: last of human freedoms - the choice of personal attitude before a set of circumstances - to decide their own road.

Once again Frankl refers to the concentration camps; of personal freedom that remains intact before all adverse circumstances.

54. Human kindness is found in all groups, even those that, generally speaking, deserve to be condemned.

In this sentence Frankl speaks of goodness as a human condition.

55. And at that moment the whole truth dawned on me and I did what was the climax of the first phase of my psychological reaction: I erased all previous life from my consciousness.

In this sentence Frankl again refers to the concentration camps and how to manage their emotions to move forward.

56. The most painful aspect of the blows is the insult that they include.

In this sentence Frankl says between the lines that hitting someone is a way of belittling him.

57. Those who have not gone through a similar experience can hardly conceive of the conflict soul-destroying mindset nor willpower conflicts experienced by a man hungry.

In this sentence Frankl again refers to the concentration camps and the management of emotions there.

58. Despite the forceful physical and mental primitivism, in concentration camp life it was still possible to develop a deep spiritual life.

Again, another reference to concentration camps and spiritual force.

59. I did not know if my wife was alive, nor did I have any way of finding out (during the entire period of imprisonment there was no postal contact with the outside world), but by then I had stopped caring about her, I didn't need to know, nothing could alter the strength of my love, my thoughts or the image of my loved.

In this sentence, Frankl refers again to the concentration camps and how in those hard moments, reality did not alter the perception of his love and that of the woman he loved.

60. We should not look for an abstract meaning to life, because each one has their own mission to fulfill in it; Each one must carry out a specific task. Therefore he cannot be replaced in the function, nor can his life be repeated; his task is unique as is his opportunity to implement it.

In this sentence Frankl speaks of the will of each one to develop the life that he wishes.

61. Luck is what one does not have to suffer.

In this Frankl phrase that luck is the set of lived circumstances - whether good or bad -.

62. Life demands a contribution from every individual and it is up to the individual to discover what it consists of.

In this sentence, Frankl speaks of the fact that every human being has a mission and goals in life, which he must find and fulfill.

63. All of us had once believed that we were "someone" or at least we had imagined it. But now they treated us as if we were nobody, as if we didn't exist.

In this sentence Frankl returns to reference the concentration camps and how he felt being nobody, and in a common feeling, despite all the personality building and character developed previously.

64. Man realizes himself to the same extent that he commits himself to fulfilling the meaning of his life.

In this sentence Frankl speaks again of self-realization and how it leads to giving meaning to existence.

65. I understood how man, dispossessed of everything in this world, can still know happiness - even if only momentarily - if he contemplates the loved one.

In this sentence Frankl returns to speak of the essence of love. Love as salvation, when there is nothing else left.

66. I am but a small part of a great mass of human flesh... of a mass enclosed behind barbed wire, crammed into a few earthen barracks. A mass of which day after day a percentage is decomposing because it no longer has life.

In this sentence Frankl returns to speak of the concentration camps; of the nobody who felt there, of the loss of the essence of oneself.

67. As the inner life of the prisoners became more intense, we also felt the beauty of art and nature as never before. Under his influence we came to forget our dire circumstances.

In this sentence Frankl again talks about the concentration camps and how under those circumstances, they were able to develop an inner world that made them feel alive and capable of continuing to feel beauty in the world.

68. Happiness is like a butterfly. The more you chase her, the more she runs away. But if you turn your attention to other things, she comes and gently perches on your shoulder. Happiness is not an inn on the road, but a way of walking through life.

In this sentence Frankl speaks of happiness as an attitude towards life, not as a purpose.

69. The consciousness of self-love is so deeply rooted in the highest and most spiritual things that it cannot be uprooted even by living in a concentration camp.

Here Frankl again speaks of the concentration camps. He says that love, as an expression of spiritual things, remains intact even in a place as terrible and harsh as a concentration camp.

70. The ruins are often the ones that open the windows to see the sky.

With this last phrase by Viktor Frankl, we are told of suffering as something useful, and a previous step to the good things in life.