Quotes from Viktor E. Frankl

Whoever has a why to live can bear almost any how," as the German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche declared.

I grasped 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 in love.

suffering ceases to be suffering at the moment it finds a meaning, such as the meaning of a sacrifice.

suffering. Take the fate of the sick—especially those who are incurable. I once read a letter written by a young invalid, in which he told a friend that he had just found out he would not live for long, that even an operation would be of no help. He wrote further that he remembered a film he had seen in which a man was portrayed who waited for death in a

that it did not really matter what we expected from life, but rather what life expected from

Nietzsche, "He who has a Why to live for can bear almost any How.

Instead of possibilities, I have realities in my past, not only the reality of work done and of love loved, but of sufferings bravely suffered. These sufferings are even the things of which I am most proud.

The fear of sleeplessness12 results in a hyper-intention to fall asleep, which, in turn, incapacitates the patient to do so. To overcome this particular fear, I usually advise the patient not to try to sleep but rather to try to do just the opposite, that is, to stay awake as long as possible.

in the final analysis it becomes clear that the sort of person the prisoner became was the result of an inner decision, and not the result of camp influences alone.

I had intended to write this book anonymously, using my prison number only. But when the manuscript was completed, I saw that as an anonymous publication it would lose half its value

In some way, suffering ceases to be suffering at the moment it finds a meaning, such as the meaning of a sacrifice. Of

Set me like a seal upon thy heart, love is as strong as death.