Viktor Frankl
Austrian neurologist and psychiatrist (1905 to 1997) and Holocaust survivor who founded logotherapy, a school of psychotherapy that treats the search for meaning as the central human motivation.
Viktor Frankl did not write this page. ppll compiled it from their own words, each linked to the source. Is this you? · Report a mistake
What they believe
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Human dignity belongs to the person and does not depend on usefulness
The counter-concept to utility value is dignity; dignity, however, belongs to the person alone and is, by its very nature, independent of all vital and social utility.
viktorfrankl.orgSaid c. 1950–1997This on korrents
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Aiming straight at success makes you more likely to miss it
Don't aim at success - the more you aim at it and make it a target, the more you are going to miss it.
books.google.comSaid c. 1992This on korrents
The bold line is korrents’ wording; the quote is theirs. These 2: what they wrote before what they said aloud, one per source, newest first.
Beliefs
Korrents What they believe 31 beliefs — each backed by an exact quote.
Each is a — compiled by korrents.com, not by them: the one-line wordings are korrents', the quotes are theirs.
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Human dignity belongs to the person and does not depend on usefulness
The counter-concept to utility value is dignity; dignity, however, belongs to the person alone and is, by its very nature, independent of all vital and social utility.
Ten Theses about the Person (Salzburg lecture of 1950, as later published; tr. Franz Vesely and David Nolland) Said c. 1950–1997
Recognising every person's unconditional dignity means reverence even for the incurably ill, and rules out euthanasia
Only those who overlook or forget this can consider euthanasia to be justifiable. Anyone, on the other hand, who recognises the unconditional dignity of every single person will also have unconditional reverence for the human person—for the sick, for the incurable, and even for those with incurable "mental illnesses."
Ten Theses about the Person (Salzburg lecture of 1950, as later published; tr. Franz Vesely and David Nolland) Said c. 1950–1997
The spiritual person cannot fall ill and remains present behind a psychosis
In truth, there are no "mental" illnesses in the sense of illnesses of the spirit. For the "spirit", the spiritual person itself, cannot become ill, and remains present behind the psychosis, even if hardly visible to the psychiatrist.
Ten Theses about the Person (Salzburg lecture of 1950, as later published; tr. Franz Vesely and David Nolland) Said c. 1950–1997
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Being human is at bottom being responsible, which is more than being free
Being human is, as I myself repeatedly describe it, in the deepest and ultimate sense being responsible. This also means that it is more than merely being free: responsibility includes the what for of human freedom—what the human being is free for, what they decide for or against.
Ten Theses about the Person (Salzburg lecture of 1950, as later published; tr. Franz Vesely and David Nolland) Said c. 1950–1997
A person strives for value and meaning, not for pleasure
Thus, contrary to the psychoanalytic view, the person, as understood by the existential analysis I have attempted to outline, is not drive-determined but meaning-oriented; from the point of view of existential analysis, the person does not strive for pleasure but for value.
Ten Theses about the Person (Salzburg lecture of 1950, as later published; tr. Franz Vesely and David Nolland) Said c. 1950–1997
Psychotherapy is ultimately about existential reorientation rather than transforming drives
It follows that psychotherapy is ultimately concerned not with affect-dynamic and drive-energetic transformations, but with an existential reorientation.
Ten Theses about the Person (Salzburg lecture of 1950, as later published; tr. Franz Vesely and David Nolland) Said c. 1950–1997
Faith in God is a decision, not a drive
Yet I am not driven to faith in God or to God himself; I must decide for or against him. Religiosity is ego-like, or it is nothing at all.
Ten Theses about the Person (Salzburg lecture of 1950, as later published; tr. Franz Vesely and David Nolland) Said c. 1950–1997
Every human being believes in meaning for as long as they live, acknowledged or not
Whether one wants to or not, whether one acknowledges it or not, the human being believes in meaning for as long as it breathes.
Ten Theses about the Person (Salzburg lecture of 1950, as later published; tr. Franz Vesely and David Nolland) Said c. 1950–1997
Aiming straight at success makes you more likely to miss it
Don't aim at success - the more you aim at it and make it a target, the more you are going to miss it.
Man's Search for Meaning (Beacon Press, 2006 edition; Part One tr. Ilse Lasch) Said c. 1992
Everything can be taken from a person except the freedom to choose their attitude in any circumstances
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.
Man's Search for Meaning (Beacon Press, 2006 edition; Part One tr. Ilse Lasch) Said c. 1946–1992
Even in a concentration camp a person can decide what becomes of them mentally and spiritually
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.
Man's Search for Meaning (Beacon Press, 2006 edition; Part One tr. Ilse Lasch) Said c. 1946–1992
The salvation of human beings is through love and in love
The salvation of man is through love and in love.
Man's Search for Meaning (Beacon Press, 2006 edition; Part One tr. Ilse Lasch) Said c. 1946–1992
Humour is one of the soul's weapons in the fight for self-preservation
Humor was another of the soul's weapons in the fight for self-preservation.
Man's Search for Meaning (Beacon Press, 2006 edition; Part One tr. Ilse Lasch) Said c. 1946–1992
A prisoner who lost faith in his own future was doomed
The prisoner who had lost faith in the future - his future - was doomed.
Man's Search for Meaning (Beacon Press, 2006 edition; Part One tr. Ilse Lasch) Said c. 1946–1992
What matters is not what we expect from life but what life expects from us
it did not really matter what we expected from life, but rather what life expected from us. We needed to stop asking about the meaning of life, and instead to think of ourselves as those who were being questioned by life - daily and hourly.
Man's Search for Meaning (Beacon Press, 2006 edition; Part One tr. Ilse Lasch) Said c. 1946–1992
Life ultimately means taking responsibility for answering its problems and fulfilling the tasks it sets each person
Life ultimately means taking the responsibility to find the right answer to its problems and to fulfill the tasks which it constantly sets for each individual.
Man's Search for Meaning (Beacon Press, 2006 edition; Part One tr. Ilse Lasch) Said c. 1946–1992
The search for meaning is a person's primary motivation, not a rationalisation of instinctual drives
Man's search for meaning is the primary motivation in his life and not a “secondary rationalization” of instinctual drives.
Man's Search for Meaning (Beacon Press, 2006 edition; Part One tr. Ilse Lasch) Said c. 1962–1992
Mental health rests on some tension between what one is and what one should become
mental health is based on a certain degree of tension, the tension between what one has already achieved and what one still ought to accomplish, or the gap between what one is and what one should become.
Man's Search for Meaning (Beacon Press, 2006 edition; Part One tr. Ilse Lasch) Said c. 1962–1992
The meaning of life differs from person to person and from hour to hour
For the meaning of life differs from man to man, from day to day and from hour to hour.
Man's Search for Meaning (Beacon Press, 2006 edition; Part One tr. Ilse Lasch) Said c. 1962–1992
Everyone has a specific mission in life, a concrete assignment that demands fulfilment
Everyone has his own specific vocation or mission in life to carry out a concrete assignment which demands fulfillment.
Man's Search for Meaning (Beacon Press, 2006 edition; Part One tr. Ilse Lasch) Said c. 1962–1992
Self-actualisation is possible only as a side effect of self-transcendence
In other words, self-actualization is possible only as a side-effect of self-transcendence.
Man's Search for Meaning (Beacon Press, 2006 edition; Part One tr. Ilse Lasch) Said c. 1962–1992
The more a person forgets themselves in a cause or in love for someone, the more human they are
The more one forgets himself—by giving himself to a cause to serve or another person to love—the more human he is and the more he actualizes himself.
Man's Search for Meaning (Beacon Press, 2006 edition; Part One tr. Ilse Lasch) Said c. 1962–1992
Suffering in some way ceases to be suffering once it finds a meaning
In some way, suffering ceases to be suffering at the moment it finds a meaning, such as the meaning of a sacrifice.
Man's Search for Meaning (Beacon Press, 2006 edition; Part One tr. Ilse Lasch) Said c. 1962–1992
A person's main concern is to see a meaning in life, not to gain pleasure or avoid pain
It is one of the basic tenets of logotherapy that man's main concern is not to gain pleasure or to avoid pain but rather to see a meaning in his life.
Man's Search for Meaning (Beacon Press, 2006 edition; Part One tr. Ilse Lasch) Said c. 1962–1992
Freedom is in danger of degenerating into arbitrariness unless it is lived responsibly
In fact, freedom is in danger of degenerating into mere arbitrariness unless it is lived in terms of responsibleness. That is why I recommend that the Statue of Liberty on the East Coast be supplemented by a Statue of Responsibility on the West Coast.
Man's Search for Meaning (Beacon Press, 2006 edition; Part One tr. Ilse Lasch) Said c. 1962–1992
People are not fully determined by conditions; they decide whether to give in to them or stand up to them
Man is not fully conditioned and determined but rather determines himself whether he gives in to conditions or stands up to them. In other words, man is ultimately self-determining.
Man's Search for Meaning (Beacon Press, 2006 edition; Part One tr. Ilse Lasch) Said c. 1962–1992
The human being invented the gas chambers and is also the being who entered them upright, praying
After all, man is that being who invented the gas chambers of Auschwitz; however, he is also that being who entered those gas chambers upright, with the Lord's Prayer or the Shema Yisrael on his lips.
Man's Search for Meaning (Beacon Press, 2006 edition; Part One tr. Ilse Lasch) Said c. 1962–1992
Happiness cannot be pursued; it must ensue
But happiness cannot be pursued; it must ensue.
Man's Search for Meaning (Beacon Press, 2006 edition; Part One tr. Ilse Lasch) Said c. 1984–1992
Put simply, the feeling of meaninglessness comes from having enough to live by but nothing to live for
As to the causation of the feeling of meaninglessness, one may say, albeit in an oversimplifying vein, that people have enough to live by but nothing to live for; they have the means but no meaning.
Man's Search for Meaning (Beacon Press, 2006 edition; Part One tr. Ilse Lasch) Said c. 1984–1992
Being idealistic about people is how one ends up a true realist
we have to be idealists in a way because then we'll wind up as the true the real realist
Why believe in others (Toronto Youth Corps, 1972; published by TED) Said c. 1972
Presupposing a spark of the search for meaning even in a delinquent draws it out and helps them become what they can be
a spark of search for meaning let's recognize this let's presuppose it and then you will elicit it from him and you will make him become what he in principle is capable of becoming
Why believe in others (Toronto Youth Corps, 1972; published by TED) Said c. 1972
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