A first-rate soup is more creative than a second-rate painting.
Abraham Maslow

A musician must make music, an artist must paint, a poet must write, if he is to be ultimately at peace with himself.
Abraham Maslow

All the evidence that we have indicates that it is reasonable to assume in practically every human being, and certainly in almost every newborn baby, that there is an active will toward health, an impulse towards growth, or towards the actualization.
Abraham Maslow

But behavior in the human being is sometimes a defense, a way of concealing motives and thoughts, as language can be a way of hiding your thoughts and preventing communication.
Abraham Maslow

Classic economic theory, based as it is on an inadequate theory of human motivation, could be revolutionized by accepting the reality of higher human needs, including the impulse to self actualization and the love for the highest values.
Abraham Maslow

Dispassionate objectivity is itself a passion, for the real and for the truth.
Abraham Maslow

I was awfully curious to find out why I didn't go insane.
Abraham Maslow

If I were dropped out of a plane into the ocean and told the nearest land was a thousand miles away, I'd still swim. And I'd despise the one who gave up.
Abraham Maslow

If you only have a hammer, you tend to see every problem as a nail.
Abraham Maslow

If you plan on being anything less than you are capable of being, you will probably be unhappy all the days of your life.
Abraham Maslow


One's only rival is one's own potentialities. One's only failure is failing to live up to one's own possibilities. In this sense, every man can be a king, and must therefore be treated like a king.
Abraham Maslow

The ability to be in the present moment is a major component of mental wellness.
Abraham Maslow

The fact is that people are good, Give people affection and security, and they will give affection and be secure in their feelings and their behavior.
Abraham Maslow

The story of the human race is the story of men and women selling themselves short.
Abraham Maslow

We fear to know the fearsome and unsavory aspects of ourselves, but we fear even more to know the godlike in ourselves.
Abraham Maslow

We may define therapy as a search for value.
Abraham Maslow

What a man can be, he must be. This need we call self-actualization.
Abraham Maslow

What is necessary to change a person is to change his awareness of himself.
Abraham Maslow