Viktor E. Frankl Quotes About Reality
-
I shall never forget how I was roused one night by the groans of a fellow prisoner, who threw himself about in his sleep, obviously having a horrible nightmare. Since I had always been especially sorry for people who suffered from fearful dreams or deliria, I wanted to wake the poor man. Suddenly I drew back the hand which was ready to shake him, frightened at the thing I was about to do. At that moment I became intensely conscious of the fact that no dream, no matter how horrible, could be as bad as the reality of the camp which surrounded us, and to which I was about to recall him.
→ -
What will it matter to him if he notices that he is growing old? Has he any reason to envy the young people whom he sees, or wax nostalgic over his own lost youth? What reasons has he to envy a young person? For the possibilities that a young person has, the future which is in store for him? "No, thank you," he will think. "Instead of possibilities, I have realities in my past, not only the reality of work done and love loved, but of sufferings bravely suffered. These sufferings are even the things of which I am most proud, though these things are things that cannot inspire envy."
→ -
Instead of possibilities, I have realities in my past, not only the reality of work done and of love loved, but of sufferings bravely suffered. These sufferings are even the things of which I am most proud, though these are things which cannot inspire envy.
→ -
Most men in a concentration camp believed that the real opportunities of life had passed. Yet, in reality, there was an opportunity and a challenge. One could make a victory of those experiences, turning life into an inner triumph, or one could ignore the challenge and simply vegetate, as did a majority of the prisoners.
→
Related Authors
-
Stephen Covey Author -
Soren Kierkegaard Philosopher -
Albert Ellis Psychologist -
Irvin D. Yalom Author -
Sigmund Freud Neurologist -
Martin Buber Philosopher -
Bruno Bettelheim Psychologist -
Erik Erikson Psychologist -
Olavo de Carvalho Philosopher -
Carl Rogers Psychologist -
Rollo May Psychologist -
B. F. Skinner Psychologist -
Alfred Adler Psychotherapist -
Erich Fromm Psychologist -
Carl Jung Psychiatrist -
Primo Levi Chemist -
Arthur Schopenhauer Philosopher -
Gordon Allport Psychologist -
Abraham Maslow Psychologist -
Frederick Salomon Perls Psychiatrist