The last of human freedoms - the ability to chose one's attitude especially an attitude of gratitude in a given set of circumstances especially in difficult circumstances.

Life requires of man spiritual elasticity, so that he may temper his efforts to the chances that are offered.

Since Auschwitz we know what man is capable of. And since Hiroshima we know what is at stake.

Humor was another of the soul's weapons in the fight for self-preservation.

But my mind clung to my wife's image, imagining it with an uncanny acuteness. I heard her answering me, saw her smile, her frank and encouraging look. Real or not, her look then was more luminous than the sun which was beginning to rise.

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 those who were being questioned by life—daily and hourly. Our answer must consist, not in talk and meditation, but in right action and in right conduct. Life ultimately means taking the responsibility to find the right answer to its problems and to fulfill the tasks which it constantly sets for each individual.

A sound philosophy of life, I think, may be the most valuable asset for a psychiatrist to have when he is treating a patient.