Man does have a choice of action. There were enough examples, often of a heroic nature, which proved that apathy could be overcome, irritability suppressed....We who lived in concentration camps can remember the men who walked through the huts comforting others, giving away their last piece of bread. They may have been few in number, but they offer sufficient proof that everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms — to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one's own way....It is this spiritual freedom — which cannot be taken away — that makes life meaningful and purposeful. (66-67)
Love is the ultimate and the highest goal to which man can aspire...My mind still clung to the image of my wife. A thought crossed my mind: I didn't even know if she were still alive. I knew only one thing—which I have learned well by now: Love goes very far beyond the physical person of the beloved. It finds its deepest meaning in his spiritual being, his inner self. I did not know whether my wife was alive, and I had no means of finding out; but at that moment it ceased to matter. There was no need for me to know; nothing could touch the strength of my love, my thoughts, and the image of my beloved. (37-38)
If there is meaning in life at all, then there must be meaning in suffering. (67)
Humor was another of the soul's weapons in the fight for self-preservation. (43)
It did not really matter what we expected from life, but rather what life expected from us. We needed to stop asking about the meaning of life and instead to think of ourselves as being questioned by life — daily and hourly. Our answer must consist in right action and right conduct. Life ultimately means taking responsibility to find the right answer to its problems and to fulfill the tasks which it constantly sets for the individual. These tasks, and therefore the meaning of life, differ from man to man, and moment to moment. Questions about the meaning of life can never be answered by sweeping statements. (77-78)
