“The world is in a bad state, but everything will become still worse unless each of us does his best.”

— Viktor Frankl, Postscript 1984: The Case for a Tragic Optimism (lecture of 19 June 1983)

About Viktor Frankl

1905 – 1997

Austrian psychiatrist and Holocaust survivor who founded logotherapy. His memoir 'Man's Search for Meaning' is one of the most widely read books in the world.

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“Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms—to choose one's attitude.”

— Viktor Frankl

Attribution note: Source disputed or unverified.

“Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response.”

— Viktor Frankl

“When we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves.”

— Viktor Frankl

“He is a wise man who does not grieve for the things which he has not, but rejoices for those which he has.”

— Epictetus

Attribution note: Source disputed or unverified.

“Knowing yourself is the beginning of all wisdom.”

— Aristotle

Attribution note: Source disputed or unverified.

“Yesterday I was clever, so I wanted to change the world. Today I am wise, so I am changing myself.”

— Rumi

“He who knows others is wise; he who knows himself is enlightened.”

— Lao Tzu

Attribution note: Source disputed or unverified.

“The man who asks a question is a fool for a minute, the man who does not ask is a fool for life.”

— Confucius

“The truth is rarely pure and never simple.”

— Oscar Wilde

“The world is in a bad state, but everything will become still worse unless each of us does his best.”

About Viktor Frankl

More from Viktor Frankl

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