Q0093
Viktor Frankl
A verified English rendering from the curated archive.
English
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.
Source context
This English passage is associated with Man's Search for Meaning, within the tradition of Existential Psychology. The wording below is a verified rendering prepared for careful reading rather than a claim of unique translation authority.
A short reading
Read in the register of freedom, the sentence asks the reader to test an assumption rather than to collect a slogan. In Viktor Frankl's wider work, similar claims are usually offered as prompts for judgment: what would have to be true for the sentence to hold, and what would follow if it did?
How to cite this quotation
APA: Viktor Frankl. (n.d.). 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. In Philosophy Blind Box. https://www.philosophydef.com/quotes/q0093
MLA: Viktor Frankl. “Everything can be taken from a man but….” Philosophy Blind Box, https://www.philosophydef.com/quotes/q0093.
Chicago: Viktor Frankl. “Everything can be taken from a man but….” Philosophy Blind Box. Accessed 2026. https://www.philosophydef.com/quotes/q0093.