Austrian neurosurgeon, psychiatrist, writer, philosopher, and Holocaust survivor Viktor Frankl is one of the most profound and inspirational people in our history.
He was the creator of logotherapy, a psychotherapy method that views the desire for meaning in life as the most powerful human driving driver. He’s said several meaningful things that can be used as daily motivation and inspiration.
Here are our top and best Viktor Frankl quotes that inspire us every day, and can hopefully prove as a motivator to improve your lives as well.
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.”
This Viktor Frankl quote reminds us that we’re gifted with the freedom to choose the life we want to lead, let’s make sure that we pick a great one!
2. “When we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves”
A bad situation is just an opportunity to make yourself better from it, and this Viktor Frankl quote reminds us of just that.
3. “Happiness cannot be pursued; it must ensue”
Happiness is a result, it will come with everything we do. Rather than trying to find happiness, just live to the best of your ability, and it will come to you anyways.
4. “In some ways, suffering ceases to be suffering at the moment it finds a meaning, such as the meaning of a sacrifice”
Just because it’s hard doesn't mean it’s pointless. Even the worst parts of our lives have meaning, as this Viktor Frankl quote says.
5. “Love is the only way to grasp another human being in the innermost core of his personality”
This Viktor Frankl quote reminds us that we can find the core of others’ personalities through love, the most important part of life.
6. “For the world is in a bad state, but everything will become still worse unless each of us does his best”
Just because we live in a world full of challenges doesn't mean we cannot try our best to make the best of them and overcome them no matter what.
7. “I do the unpleasant tasks before I do the pleasant ones”
Use this Viktor Frankl quote as a daily life hack, except one with meaning!
8. “Pain is only bearable if we know it will end, not if we deny it exists”
There’s no point in denying pain is real, pain is a part of life. We just need to remember that eventually, it will end.
9. “If there is meaning in life at all, then there must be meaning in suffering”
To appreciate the greatness in life, we need to overcome the suffering. It will make the good parts so much better!
10. “Every human being has the freedom to change at any instant”
This Viktor Frankl quote inspires us to take our lives into our own hands and to make the changes that we want to see in the world that surrounds us.
11. “Despair is suffering without meaning”
We can learn from our suffering, but not from our despair. Even in the hard times, this Viktor Frankl quote inspires us to find meaning.
12. “You don't create your mission in life - you detect it”
This Viktor Frankl quote can encourage you to detect your mission in life!
13. “Faith is trust in ultimate meaning”
We need to trust the ultimate meaning in life, even if we don’t know what it is yet.
14. “A human being is a deciding being”
We are who we are by deciding to be the people that we want to see when we look in the mirror, which is what this Viktor Frankl quote tells us.
15. “An abnormal reaction to an abnormal situation is normal behavior”
This Viktor Frankl quote reminds us of the time we’re living in today, the COVID pandemic. We need to remember that we’ve been thrown into the unknown, and we’re going to act like it.
When you’re in an abnormal situation, remember this Viktor Frankl quote.
16. “I do not forget any good deed done to me and I do not carry a grudge for a bad one”
We need to remember this Viktor Frankl quote in the good times and the bad because we cannot hold the bad against others, and we need to remember the good as well.
17. “Fear makes come true that which one is afraid of”
If we have fear, what we are afraid of will exist in the world around us, that’s just how it works.
We just need to know how to deal with it and we can do it by simply facing it.
18. “It is the very pursuit of happiness that thwarts happiness”
If we’re chasing happiness, we will never be able to find it. Wait for happiness, and it will come to us right away.
19. “Love is the only sane and satisfactory answer to the problem of human existence”
If you’re looking for the answer to the problem of human existence, this Viktor Frankl quote has it!
20. “Once hopeless, my life is now hope-full, but it did not happen overnight”
This quote reminds us that greatness happens overnight, and we need to take our time for the things that matter most.
21. “Decisions, not conditions, determine what a man is”
What we decide to do with our life is what makes us who we are. What do we decide when faced with the challenges that life throws at us. And that's exactly what this Viktor Frankl Quote says.
22. “Our greatest freedom is the freedom to choose our attitude”
Another one based on our decisions is this Viktor Frankl quote that explains what our greatest freedom and life are.
23. “Man is capable of changing the world for the better if possible, and of changing himself for the better if necessary”
Another quote about changing ourselves to deal with the situation we’re in is this Viktor Frankl quote, that tells us that to change the world around us, we need to first change ourselves.
24. “What is to give light must endure burning”
If you’re looking for the light, you need to overcome the darkness and the challenges that come before it, which is what this Viktor Frankl quote perfectly explains.
25. “The quest for meaning is the key to mental health and human flourishing”
Our goal in life is to find the meaning, and this Viktor Frankl quote encourages us to keep searching!
26. “Those who have a ‘why’ to live, can bear with almost any ‘how’”
Quoting Friedrich Nietzsche, this quote inspires us to understand the reasons that we need to live to figure out how to live in the first place.
27. “Happiness must happen, and the same holds for success: you have to let it happen by not caring about it”
We cannot look for happiness and success, we just need to work hard and be ourselves, and it will come when we least expect it.
28. “Ultimately, man should not ask what the meaning of his life is, but rather he must recognize that it is he who is asked”
This meaningful and deep Viktor Frankl quote has even us awestruck and shocked.
29. “Evermore people today have the means to live, but no meaning to live for”
We’re constantly trying to look for the money, resources, opportunities that allow us to live. Yet we don’t pay attention to love, happiness, and joy, the reasons we want to live in the first place. This Viktor Frankl quote reminds us to know our meaning.
30. “The meaning of life is to be discovered in the world”
The last Viktor Frankl quote on our list explains the meaning of life to him, which is being discovered and remembered in the world that we live in today.
These quotes about life, love, hope, and happiness inspire us in many ways. They inspire us to live to the fullest and make the most out of the world that we live in. They inspire us not to search for happiness and success but to live and wait for it to come to us.
They inspire us to hope more and better and search for the meaning of life because that meaning is different to us all. We hope that these Viktor Frankl quotes inspired you as much as they inspired us!
Comment down below your favorite Viktor Frankl quote from this list. Do like and share these quotes to motivate and inspire others.
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