Thinker

Viktor Frankl quotes

3 passages in English · 1905–1997 · Existential psychology.

Overview

Viktor Frankl (1905–1997) founded logotherapy, arguing that the search for meaning is a primary human motivation, shaped by his experiences in Nazi concentration camps.

Main ideas

Even under extreme constraint, an attitude toward suffering can be chosen. Meaning is discovered in work, love, and courage under unavoidable pain. Responsibility answers nihilism.

Major works

  • Man's Search for Meaning
  • The Doctor and the Soul
  • The Will to Meaning

Legacy

Frankl bridges clinical practice and existential philosophy in popular and professional culture worldwide.

Themes in this archive

Freedom (1) · Meaning (1) · Change (1)

  1. 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.
  2. Those who have a 'why' to live can bear with almost any 'how'.
  3. When we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves.