The 8 Most Important Words Nietzsche Ever Spoke

A mindset shift I apply daily

Thomas Oppong
4 min readOct 4, 2024
Image by Loke from Pixabay

I’ve been reflecting on one of Friedrich Nietzsche’s quick but powerful aphorisms for some time now. And it always comes back to one thing: a “why” to live today, tomorrow and the next day.

He notes, “He who has a why to live for can bear almost any how.” It’s simple, but it’s one of those ideas that sticks with you.

“A reason for being,” changes everything.

If you have a clear “why,” the “how” doesn’t seem so overwhelming. The struggle becomes bearable. You may not know the exact path, but you know the direction. “A reason to live,” helps you find meaning in the “how you live.”

Nietzsche wasn’t just saying you can survive any “how.” He was saying that with a strong why, suffering has meaning. And that’s a powerful shift. Suffering becomes part of the story, not the end of it. It’s not something to avoid at all costs, but something you can survive.

“To live is to suffer, to survive is to find some meaning in the suffering,” says Nietzsche. “What does not kill me makes me stronger,” he notes.

Viktor Frankl understood this better than anyone.

Frankl survived the horrors of the Holocaust. In the camps, he saw men stripped of everything — dignity, health, and family. But what kept some of them alive, he observed, was a “why to live”.

Frankl saw people in the camps who had nothing — no food, no family, no freedom — yet some survived. Not because they were the strongest but because they had something to live for. That’s the difference between making it through the worst days and being crushed by them.

In his book Man’s Search for Meaning, he writes that finding meaning in suffering gives people the strength to endure it. This is the same idea Nietzsche is talking about. If you have a “why,” the “how” becomes something you can survive. “Life is never made unbearable by circumstances, but only by lack of meaning and purpose,” Frankl said.

You and I might not face anything on the scale of what Frankl endured. But you might still be facing your own suffering — whether it’s loss, failure, uncertainty, or pain. And when those moments hit, “the why” of life gets you through. It’s the one thing that can’t be taken from you.

And that makes it powerful.

“In some ways suffering ceases to be suffering at the moment it finds a meaning, such as the meaning of a sacrifice,” notes Frankl.

Here’s something else I’ve learned.

Your why doesn’t eliminate suffering. It doesn’t make life any easier. But it changes how you see your suffering. It turns pain into a path forward. Suffering with no purpose feels like punishment. But suffering with purpose feels different. It feels like a necessary step. Something you can endure because it’s leading you somewhere.

The opposite takes you on a completely different path in life.

What happens when you don’t have a “why”? How you live almost feels unbearable. If life feels meaningless, even the small challenges seem like the world is against you. You lose motivation. You feel stuck.

You wake up every day and go through the same routines, wondering, “What’s the point?” That’s when life becomes unbearable. Without “a definite reason for being”, or what the Japanese call ikigai, you will likely drown in the “how.”Every obstacle feels personal. Every failure feels like proof you’re not good enough.

Without a strong”why,” you will lose the will to keep doing what you do, especially when it gets hard.

That’s why Nietzsche’s quote is so powerful. A “why” to live lifts you out of that depressing cycle. It gives you a reason to endure. It’s practical. It’s survival. Even in the darkest times, purpose becomes the way.

Your “why” doesn’t have to save the world. It just needs to save you. That’s what matters. What gets you out of bed in the morning? What makes you feel alive? Maybe it’s family, perhaps it’s work, maybe it’s something simple like helping others.

You don’t have to have it all figured out.

Your “why” doesn’t need to be a massive mission. It can be quiet, personal, or both. The important thing is that it gives your life meaning.

It needs to matter to you.

For some, it’s a goal, a dream, or a vision. For others, it’s something simpler, like love, connection, or a sense of duty. Whatever it is, your why becomes the anchor of life. It keeps you steady. It can shift, though. And that’s okay. Life changes, and so do we.

No one can define your “why” for you. Society will try. It’ll tell you that success, money, or recognition should be your purpose. But that’s shallow. A real “why to live” comes from within.

It’s personal, intimate.

You might not even be able to put it into words, but you feel it.

Whatever it is, it has to resonate with you. It’s not about what the world expects. It’s about what gives you strength. So, yes, “He who has a why to live for can bear almost any how.” Life will challenge you.

That’s a given.

You’ll face hardship. You’ll question everything. But when you have a why, you’ll find the strength to keep going. You’ll endure. And that’s what makes all the difference. If you’re feeling lost, if life feels like a struggle, take a step back. Look for your “why.” It’s there.

You just need to find it.

Once you do, the “how” won’t feel so impossible. With a strong “why,” you can bear almost any “how.”

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Thomas Oppong

Making the wisdom of great thinkers instantly accessible. As seen on Forbes, Inc. and Business Insider. For my popular essays, go here: https://thomasoppong.com