“The existence of value absolutes is denied; at most, it is said, we have a human inclination to develop preferences.”
“The sacred is in the ordinary, it is to be found in one’s daily life, in one’s neighbors, friends, and family, in one’s backyard.”
“A person who makes full use and exploitation of his talents, capacities, potentialities, etc., is a self-actualizing person.”
“If you plan on being anything less than you are capable of being, you will probably be unhappy all the days of your life.”
“The creative person seems to have two personalities, one of which is childlike.”
“To be normal is the ideal aim of the unsuccessful.”
“The most fortunate are those who have a wonderful capacity to appreciate again and again, freshly and naively, the basic goods of life, with awe, pleasure, wonder, and even ecstasy.”
“If you only have a religion, you tend to see every problem as a nail.”
“Human life will never be understood unless its highest aspirations are taken into account. Growth, self-actualization, the striving toward health, the quest for identity and autonomy, the yearning for excellence (and other ways of phrasing the striving ‘upward’) must by now be accepted beyond question as a widespread and perhaps universal human tendency.”
“To be neurotic is to be in a quandary.”
“What we call ‘normal’ in psychology is really a psychopathology of the average, so undramatic and so widely spread that we don’t even notice it ordinarily.”
“One can choose to go back toward safety or forward toward growth. Growth must be chosen again and again; fear must be overcome again and again.”
READ MORE AUTHORS QUOTES:
“A first-rate soup is more creative than a second-rate painting.”
“The positive effect on the self-image of our therapy is remarkable.”
“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.”
“The study of error is not only in the highest degree prophylactic, but it serves as a stimulating introduction to the study of truth.”
“The fact is that people are good, if only their fundamental wishes are satisfied, their wishes for affection and security, for belonging, for respect and self-respect.”
“Life is an ongoing process of choosing between safety (out of fear and need for defense) and risk (for the sake of progress and growth).”
“All basic or innate capacities are biologically grounded and hence are biological or species properties.”
“Be independent of the good opinion of other people.”
“A musician must make music, an artist must paint, a poet must write, if he is to be ultimately at peace with himself.”
“The ability to be spontaneous is an important component of psychological health.”
Abraham Maslow quotes :
“In any given moment, we have two options: to step forward into growth or to step back into safety.”
“Self-actualization is not a thing to be attained, it is a way of life.”
“What a man can be, he must be. This need we call self-actualization.”
“Almost all creativity involves purposeful play.”
“The most stable, most balanced people are those who are most interested in what they see in themselves, not in what they think they ought to be.”
“Discontent is the yeast that raises the dough.”
“What is life for? It is for you.”
“It seems that the necessary thing to do is not to fear mistakes, to plunge in, to do the best that one can, hoping to learn enough from blunders to correct them eventually.”
“It isn’t normal to know what we want. It is a rare and difficult psychological achievement.”
“Love is often the wisdom of the fool and the folly of the wise.”
“If you only have a hammer, you tend to see every problem as a nail.”
“What a man can be, he must be. This need we may call self-actualization.”
“If the only tool you have is a hammer, you tend to see every problem as a nail.”
“We may define therapy as a search for value.”
“What counts is not what facts you know, but how well you can find out.”
“If you love the truth, you’ll trust it; if you trust it, you’ll want to live it.”
“When it is a question of the child’s formation, the views of the parents about him are never neutral.”
“To the man who only has a hammer, everything he encounters begins to look like a nail.”
“The human being seems to have two diversely differentiated types of trends, or a dual motivation.”
“Life is an ongoing process of choosing between safety (out of fear and need for defense) and risk (for the sake of progress and growth): Make the growth choice a dozen times a day.”
“The further a society drifts from the truth, the more it will hate those who speak it.”
“Self-actualizing people have a deep feeling of identification, sympathy, and affection for human beings in general.”
“The key question isn’t ‘What fosters creativity?’ But it is why in God’s name isn’t everyone creative? Where was the human potential lost? How was it crippled? I think therefore a good question might be not why do people create? But why do people not create or innovate?”
“We fear our highest possibilities. We are generally afraid to become that which we can glimpse in our most perfect moments.”
“What a man can be, he must be.”
“What is necessary to change a person is to change his awareness of himself.”
“The story of the human race is the story of men and women selling themselves short.”
“If you deliberately plan on being less than you are capable of being, then I warn you that you’ll be unhappy for the rest of your life.”
“The child is father to the man.”
“The ability to be self-critical is an important component of psychological health.”
“Musicians must make music, artists must paint, poets must write if they are to be ultimately at peace with themselves.”
“If you deliberately plan to be less than you are capable of being, then I warn you that you’ll be deeply unhappy for the rest of your life.”
“The ability to be alone is an important component of psychological health.”
“We are dealing here with the best developed, the most efficiently functioning individuals.”
“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.”
“If you only listen to your needs, you will not grow.”
“The ability to be in the present moment is a major component of mental wellness.”
“The fact that we are not at this moment emphasizing ‘self-actualizing’ concerns is due, I think, to an overemphasis on pathology.”
“The only happy people I know are the ones who are working well at something they consider important.”
“The fully developed person…works because it’s natural, because it’s right and enjoyable and because it’s necessary.”
“Dispassionate objectivity is itself a passion, for the real and for the truth.”
“The need for creative expression is an important component of psychological health.”
“Self-actualization is not a process of learning or perfecting skills.”
“When we can’t stand it any longer, we discover that the thing we have been waiting for, and must do, is to throw ourselves more completely into the arms of existence.”