My 23 Best Viktor Frankl Life's Purpose Quotes

1. “The meaning of our existence is not invented by ourselves, but rather detected.” 
2.  “It is the very pursuit of happiness that thwarts happiness.”
3.  “Being tolerant does not mean that I share another one’s belief. But it does mean that I acknowledge another one’s right to believe, and obey, his own conscience.”
4.  “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.”
5.  “Man does not simply exist, but always decides what his existence will be, what he will become in the next moment.”
6.  “Love is the only way to grasp another human being in the innermost core of his personality.”
7.  “A human being is a deciding being.”
8. “What is to give light must endure burning.”
9.  “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.”
10.  “Ultimately, man should not ask what the meaning of his life is, but rather must recognize that it is he who is asked. In a word, each man is questioned by life; and he can only answer to life by answering for his own life; to life he can only respond by being responsible.”
11.  “Each man is questioned by life; and he can only answer to life by answering for his own life; to life he can only respond by being responsible.”
12.  “What man actually needs is not a tensionless state but rather the striving and struggling for some goal worthy of him. What he needs is not the discharge of tension at any cost, but the call of a potential meaning waiting to be fulfilled by him.”
13. “What is to give light must endure burning.” 
14. “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.”
15. “For the meaning of life differs from man to man, from day to day and from hour to hour. What matters, therefore, is not the meaning of life in general but rather the specific meaning of a person’s life at a given moment.”
16.  “A man who becomes conscious of the responsibility he bears toward a human being who affectionately waits for him, or to an unfinished work, will never be able to throw away his life. He knows the “why” for his existence, and will be able to bear almost any “how.”
17.  “Everyone has his own specific vocation or mission in life… Therein he cannot be replaced, nor can his life be repeated. Thus, everyone’s task is as unique as is his specific opportunity to implement it.”
18.  “The existential vacuum manifests itself mainly in a state of boredom.”
19.  “We can discover this meaning in life in three different ways: 1. By doing a deed; 2. By experiencing a value; and 3. By suffering.”
20.  “We must never forget that we may also find meaning in life even when confronted with a hopeless situation, when facing a fate that cannot be changed. For what then matters is to bear witness to the uniquely human potential at its best, which is to transform a personal tragedy into a triumph, to turn one’s predicament into a human achievement. When we are no longer able to change a situation–just think of an incurable disease such as inoperable cancer–we are challenged to change ourselves.”
21.  “Life can be pulled by goals just as surely as it can be pushed by drives.”
22.  “The last of the human freedoms is to choose one’s attitudes”
23.  “Ever more people today have the means to live, but no meaning to live for.” 

 Jim Woods is a strategy consultant and President at InnoThink Group Consultants. For more ideas and to read about Jim's speaking and consulting engagements click here.