Man's Search for Meaning
Viktor Frankl

Summary

A harrowing look into the realities of the holocaust and a psychiatrist’s battle to survive. Exceptional book that almost makes you cry as you read it. Highly recommend

Rating: 4/5

Notes

Frankl traces neuroses to the failure of the sufferer to find meaning and a sense of responsibility for his existence

To live is to suffer, to survive is to find meaning in suffering

Success is the unintended side-effect of one’s dedication to a cause greater than oneself

The salvation of a man is through love and in love

Art, humor and nature were key to survival, even if for brief moments

Fundamentally, any man can decide what shall become of him, mentally and spiritually

Nietzsche ‘he who has a why to live for can bear almost any how’

What matters is a specific meaning of a person’s life in that moment

Find meaning in life and always think about what you would think on your death bed

Live as if you were living for a second time and had acted as wrongly the first time as you are about to act now

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Notes from 2nd time reading:

To live is to suffer, to survive is to find meaning in suffering

No man can tell another what his purpose is. Each of us must find out for ourselves.

Don’t aim for success: the more you aim at it and make it a target, the more you will miss. For success, like happiness, cannot be pursued, it must ensue of one’s dedicated to a cause greater than one self

A man can get used to anything but do not ask how

The truth - love is the ultimate and highest goal which man can aspire

The salvation of man is through love and in love

Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way

If there’s meaning in life at all, then there must be meaning in suffering. Without suffering and death, the human life cannot be complete

It doesn't really matter what we expect from life, but rather what life expects from us

Life means taking the responsibility to find the right answer to its problems and fulfill the tasks it constantly sets out for each individual

Live life as if you were living already for the second time and as if you had acted the first time as wrongly as you are about to act now

Suffering ceases to be suffering the moment it finds meaning

Happiness cannot be pursued, it must ensue

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