Then I grasped the meaning of the greatest secret that human poetry and human thought and belief have to impart: The salvation of man is through love and in love.
Viktor E. FranklRead
To suffer unecessarily is masochistic rather than heroic.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Unnecessary suffering is not noble; it indicates a tendency for self-inflicted pain rather than bravery.
Viktor E. Frankl suggests that enduring pain for a cause can be heroic, but when suffering occurs without purpose, it leans towards a form of self-destruction. True strength lies not in the acceptance of needless agony, but in finding meaning and understanding in life's struggles.
Themes
SufferingHeroismMeaningPainStrength
In practice
Example use cases
During a motivational speech about resilience, one might invoke this quote to emphasize the importance of finding purpose in adversity.
More from Viktor E. Frankl
All quotes →The crowning experience of all, for the homecoming man, is the wonderful feeling that, after all he has suffered, there is nothing he need fear anymore—except his God.
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Here lies the chance for a man either to make use of or to forgo the opportunities of attaining the moral values that a difficult situation may afford him. And this decides whether he is worthy of his sufferings or not.
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It is the pursuit of happiness that thwarts happiness.
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Logotherapy sees the human patient in all his humanness. I step up to the core of the patient's being. And that is a being in search of meaning, a being that is transcending himself, a being capable of acting in love for others.
Viktor E. FranklRead
The more one forgives himself - by giving himself to a cause to serve or another person to love - the more human he is and the more he actualizes himself.
Viktor E. FranklRead
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