This site is dedicated to the memory of Dr. Alan William Smolowe who gave birth to the creation of this database.
Viktor Frankl, fully Viktor Emil Frankl
This emphasis on responsibleness is reflected in the categorical imperative of logotherapy, which is: Live 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!
Behavior | Freedom | Martyrs | Mind | Suffering | Witness | Words |
A man becomes a scholar by the help of self-study and proper analysis of whatever he has studied.
You have suffered greatly, poor mother. Oh! do not lament, you have now the portion of the elect. It is in this way that mortals become angels. It is not their fault; they do not know how to set about it otherwise. This hell from which you have come out is the first step towards Heaven. We must begin by that.
Victor Borge, born Børge Rosenbaum
I don't mind growing old...I'm just not used to it.
Viktor Frankl, fully Viktor Emil Frankl
This young woman knew that she would die in the next few days. But when I talked to her she was cheerful in spite of this knowledge. 'I am grateful that fate has hit me so hard,' she told me. 'In my former life I was spoiled and did not take spiritual accomplishments seriously.' Pointing through the window of the hut, she said, 'This tree here is the only friend I have in my loneliness.' Through that window she could see just one branch of a chestnut tree, and on the branch were two blossoms. 'I often talk to this tree,' she said to me. I was startled and didn't quite know how to take her words. Was she delirious? Did she have occasional hallucinations? Anxiously I asked her if the tree replied. 'Yes.' What did it say to her? She answered, 'It said to me, I am here--I am here--I am life, eternal life.'
Desolation | Existence | Imagination | Important | Life | Life | Memory | Mind | Past | Poverty | Spirit | World |
Viktor Frankl, fully Viktor Emil Frankl
The attempt to develop a sense of humor and to see things in a humorous light is some kind of a trick learned while mastering the art of living. Yet it is possible to practice the art of living even in a concentration camp, although suffering is omnipresent.
Beginning | Light | Mind | Nothing | Thinking | Time | Wife |
Viktor Frankl, fully Viktor Emil Frankl
It is not for me to pass judgment on those prisoners who put their own people above everyone else. Who can throw a stone at a man who favors his friends under circumstances when, sooner or later, it is a question of life or death? No man should judge unless he asks himself in absolute honesty whether in a similar situation he might not have done the same.
It is impossible for the fools to tread the path of learned ones.
Harmony prevails if people of similar nature meet.
Deeds | Enthusiasm | Mind | Deeds |
Viktor Frankl, fully Viktor Emil Frankl
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.
By enthusiasm one acquire unimaginable strength. – Rig Veda
A person might appear poor, distressed, and depressed to ordinary mortals; he might not have the exterior demonstration of devotion, but God could be ever installed in his heart, guiding and guarding him. He might be doing all acts as acts of worship to the God residing in his heart.
But I tell you; Come to Me with empty hands. I shall fill your hands with gifts and Grace. If your hands are full, what am I to fill them with?
For their own purposes, they enshrine the Lord in the heart; all pain, suffering and disease are taken away.
Mind |
It has shone upon thee, light has arisen, darkness has departed from thee. We remove from thee death, destruction, and disease.