Viktor Frankl

Who was Viktor Frankl?

Viktor Emil Frankl, M.D., Ph.D. was an Austrian neurologist and psychiatrist as well as a Holocaust survivor. Frankl was the founder of logotherapy, which is a form of existential analysis, the "Third Viennese School of Psychotherapy". His best-selling book Man's Search for Meaning chronicles his experiences as a concentration camp inmate, which led him to discover the importance of finding meaning in all forms of existence, even the most brutal ones, and thus, a reason to continue living. Frankl became one of the key figures in existential therapy and a prominent source of inspiration for humanistic psychologists.

Famous Quotes:

• Just as a small fire is extinguished by the storm whereas a large fire is enhanced by it-likewise a weak faith is weakened by predicament and catastrophes whereas a strong faith is strengthened by them.
• Only to the extent that someone is living out this self transcendence of human existence, is he truly human or does he become his true self. He becomes so, not by concerning himself with his self's actualization, but by forgetting himself and giving himself, overlooking himself and focusing outward.
• Challenging the meaning of life is the truest expression of the state of being human.
• Everything can be taken away from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedom -- to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one's own way.
• What is to give light must endure the burning.
• I recommend that the Statue of Liberty be supplemented by a Statue of Responsibility on the west coast.
• Live as if you were living a second time, and as though you had acted wrongly the first time.
• A human being is a deciding being.
• Fear may come true that which one is afraid of.
• Life can be pulled by goals just as surely as it can be pushed by drives.