This site is dedicated to the memory of Dr. Alan William Smolowe who gave birth to the creation of this database.
King of the peak and glacier, King of the cold, white scalps, He lifts his head at that close tread, The eagle of the Alps.
Justice | Lord | Revolution | World |
Viktor Frankl, fully Viktor Emil Frankl
As a professor in two fields, neurology and psychiatry, I am fully aware of the extent to which man is subject to biological, psychological and sociological conditions. But in addition to being a professor in two fields I am a survivor of four camps - concentration camps, that is - and as such I also bear witness to the unexpected extent to which man is capable of defying and braving even the worst conditions conceivable.
Dawn | Existence | Light | Protest | Question | Reason | Spirit | Time | Work |
Viktor Frankl, fully Viktor Emil Frankl
Can you tell me in one sentence what is meant by logotherapy? he asked. At least, what is the difference between psychoanalysis and logotherapy? Yes, I said, but in the first place, can you tell me in one sentence what you think the essence of psychoanalysis is? This was his answer: During psychoanalysis, the patient must lie down on a couch and tell you things which sometimes are very disagreeable to tell. Whereupon I immediately retorted with the following improvisation: Now, in logotherapy the patient may remain sitting erect but he must hear things which sometimes are very disagreeable to hear.
Cause | Giving | Life | Life | Man | Meaning | Reason | World |
Viktor Frankl, fully Viktor Emil Frankl
When a man finds that it is his destiny to suffer, he will have to accept his suffering as his task. . . . He will have to acknowledge the fact that even in suffering he is unique and alone in the universe. No one can relieve him of his suffering or suffer in his place. His unique opportunity lies in the way in which he bears his burden.
Envy | Future | Love | People | Reality | Reason | Will | Work |
Viktor Frankl, fully Viktor Emil Frankl
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.
Achievement | Change | Guilt | Opportunity | Optimism | Reason | Suffering | Tragedy |
Viktor Frankl, fully Viktor Emil Frankl
Ultimate meaning necessarily exceeds and surpasses the finite intellectual capacities of man... What is demanded of man is not, as some existential philosophers teach, to endure the meaninglessness of life, but rather to bear his incapacity to grasp its unconditional meaningfulness in rational terms. Logos is deeper than logic.
Viktor Frankl, fully Viktor Emil Frankl
There is also purpose in life which is almost barren of both creation and enjoyment and which admits of but one possibility of high moral behavior: namely, in man's attitude to his existence, an existence restricted by external forces.
There is only one Caste; the Caste of Humanity.There is only one Language; the Language of the Heart.
We have all around us, in the atmosphere, the music emanating from all the Broadcasting Stations of the World, but they do not assail your ear at any time. You are not aware of any Station; but, if you have a receiver and if you tune it to the correct wavelength, you can hear the matter broadcast from any Station; if you fail to tune it correctly, you will get instead of news only nuisance.
The Siblings of Destiny meet together, and eat and spend, but these resources do not diminish; they continue to increase.
Ursula Le Guin, fully Ursula Kroeber Le Guin
And though I came to forget or regret all I have ever done, yet would I remember that once I saw the dragons aloft on the wind at sunset above the western isles; and I would be content.
Justice |
Ursula Le Guin, fully Ursula Kroeber Le Guin
I do not care what comes after; I have seen the dragons on the wind of morning.