Man's Search for Meaning, Viktor E. Frankl Excerpts

I am still just reading the Preface of A Man's Search for Meaning, by Viktor E. Frankl & this is deep.

Here is a collection of excerpts from the book that I like.

I will keep on updating this post as I read the book.

“He who has a why to live can bear with almost any how.”

“the last of human freedoms" - the ability to "choose one's attitude in a given set of circumstances.”

“Hunger, humiliation, fear and deep anger at injustice are rendered tolerable by closely guarded images of beloved persons, by religion, by a grim sense of humor, and even by glimpses of the healing beauties of nature - a tree or a sunset.”

“Don't aim at success - the more you aim at it and make it a target, the more you are going to miss it. 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. Happiness must happen, and the same holds for success: you have to let it happen by not caring about it. 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.”

“psychology requires a certain scientific detachment”

“when we saw a comrade smoking his own cigarettes, we knew he had given up faith in his strength to carry on, and, once lost, the will to live seldom returned.”

“An abnormal reaction to an abnormal situation is normal behavior”

There is always a choice of thought & action. “man does have a choice of action. There were enough examples, often of a heroic nature, which proved that apathy could be overcome, irritability suppressed. Man can preserve a vestige of spiritual freedom, of independence of mind, even in such terrible conditions of psychic and physical stress.

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."

“the sort of person the prisoner became was the result of an inner decision, and not the result of camp influences alone. Fundamentally, therefore, any man can, even under such circumstances, decide what shall become of him - mentally and spiritually. He may retain his human dignity even in a concentration camp. Dostoevski said once, "There is only one thing that I dread: not to be worthy of my sufferings”

“Without suffering and death human life cannot be complete.”

“man's inner strength may raise him above his outward fate”