Viktor E. Frankl Of Quotations

Each of us carries a unique spark of the divine, and each of us is also an inseparable part of the web of life.

If there is meaning in life at all, then there must be meaning in suffering.

If there is meaning in life at all, then there must be a meaning in suffering. Suffering is an ineradicable part of life, even as fate and death. Without suffering and death human life cannot be complete.

Ultimately, man should not ask what the meaning of his life is, but rather he must recognize that it is he who is asked.

It is the pursuit of happiness that thwarts happiness.

To the European, it is a characteristic of the American culture that, again and again, one is commanded and ordered to 'be happy.' But happiness cannot be pursued; it must ensue. One must have a reason to 'be happy.' Once the reason is found, however, one becomes happy automatically. As we see, a human being is not one in pursuit of happiness but rather in search of a reason to become happy, last but not least, through actualizing the potential meaning inherent and dormant in a given situation.

These tasks, and therefore the meaning of life, differ from man to man, and from moment to moment. Thus it is impossible to define the meaning in life in a general way.