Theme

Philosophy quotes about meaning

Meaning appears in this archive as a live philosophical concern—not a slogan. These verified English passages show how thinkers treat meaning as a problem of judgment, practice, or explanation.

Why this theme matters

Across 4 recurring voices here (notably Viktor Frankl and Ludwig Wittgenstein), meaning is framed through Logotherapy and Analytic Philosophy. Some passages define meaning; others warn how it fails; still others relocate it inside habit, community, or language.

In the history of philosophy

Discussions of meaning travel through Japanese and European modern traditions. Compare the quotations below with their school labels rather than forcing a single definition.

Thinkers in this collection

Aristotle , Albert Camus , Viktor Frankl , Ludwig Wittgenstein , Liang Shuming , Zhu Xi , Hannah Arendt , Maimonides

Frequently asked questions

What did philosophers say about meaning?

They disagreed in productive ways. In this archive, Viktor Frankl, Ludwig Wittgenstein, and related voices treat meaning as something to clarify, cultivate, or critique—not merely to celebrate.

Where can I find philosophy quotes about meaning?

This theme page gathers 9 verified English quotations tagged Meaning, with links to thinkers and sources.

How should I read quotes about meaning?

Read the sentence, then check school and source. A compact line is an entry point into an argument about meaning, not a substitute for the surrounding text.

  1. Virtue is a state concerned with choice, lying in a mean relative to us.
  2. There is but one truly serious philosophical problem, and that is suicide.
  3. 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.
  4. Those who have a 'why' to live can bear with almost any 'how'.
  5. We feel that even if all possible scientific questions are answered, the problems of life have still not been touched at all.
  6. The meaning of a word is its use in the language.
  7. The meaning of human life lies in creation.
  8. It is possible to fail in many ways…but to succeed in only one.
  9. Not leaning is called the Mean; not changing is called Constancy. The Mean is the right Way of the world; Constancy is its settled principle.
  10. Virtue lies in a mean.
  11. Storytelling reveals meaning without committing the error of defining it.
  12. The virtues are means between two extremes; the good character is the mean disposition.
  13. For what purpose do I exist?
  14. Religion cannot be fully understood either within the parameters of utility or from a sociological viewpoint alone.