A first-rate soup is better than a second rate painting.

— 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

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

A musician must make music an artist must paint a poet must write if he to be at peace with himself. What a man can be he must be.

— 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

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

— Abraham Maslow

Education can become a self-fulfilling activity, liberating in and of itself.

— Abraham Maslow

Human nature is not nearly as bad as it has been thought to be.

— Abraham Maslow

I can feel guilty about the past apprehensive about the future but only in the present can I act. The ability to be in the present moment is a major component of mental wellness.

— Abraham Maslow

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

— Abraham Maslow