Quotes from Abraham Maslow

The most beautiful fate, the most wonderful good fortune that can happen to any human being, is to be paid for doing that which he passionately loves to do.

Quitting smoking can be a very good test of ones character. Pass the test and you will have accomplished so much more than just get rid of one bad habit

The only happy people I know are the ones who are working well at something they consider important.

No psychological health is possible unless this essential care of the person is fundamentally accepted, loved and respected by others and by himself.

Self-actualizing people must be what they can be.

If I were a Negro, I'd be fighting, as Martin Luther King fought, for human recognition and justice. I'd rather go down with my flag flying. If you're weak or crippled, or you can't speak out or fight back in some way, then people don't hesitate to treat you badly.

Work is that which you dislike doing but perform for the sake of external rewards. At school, this takes the form of grades. In society, it means money, status, privilege.

The human being needs a framework of values, a philosophy of life, a religion or religion-surrogate to live by and understand by, in about the same sense that he needs sunlight, calcium or love.

Religion becomes a state of mind achievable in almost any activity of life, if this activity is raised to a suitable level of perfection.

Education is learning to grow, learning what to grow toward, learning what is good and bad, learning what is desirable and undesirable, learning what to choose and what not to choose.

One cannot choose wisely for a life unless he dares to listen to himself, his own self, at each moment of his life.

The theory of science which permits and encourages the exclusion of so much that is true and real and existent cannot be considered a comprehensive science.

The good or healthy society would then be defined as one that permitted people's highest purposes to emerge by satisfying all their basic needs.

Life could be vastly improved if we could count our blessings as self-actualizing people can and do, and if we could retain their constant sense of good fortune and gratitude for it.

What is life for? Life is for you.

Man has his future within him, dynamically alive at this present moment.

With a tree, all the growth takes place at the growing tips. Humanity is exactly the same. All the growth takes place in the growing tip: among that one percent of the population. It's made up of pioneers, the beginners. That's where the action is.

Good psychology should include all the methodological techniques, without having loyalty to one method, one idea, or one person.

You will either step forward into growth or you will step back into safety.

The spiritual life is part of the human essence. It is a defining characteristic of human nature, without which human nature is not fully human.

In the ideal college, intrinsic education would be available to anyone who wanted it...The college would be life-long, for learning can take place all through life.

...the great lesson is that the sacred is in the ordinary, that it is to be found in one's daily life, in one's neighbors, friends, and family, in one's backyard.

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

When people appear to be something other than good and decent, it is only because they are reacting to stress, pain, or the deprivation of basic human needs such as security, love, and self-esteem.