"A first-rate soup is more creative than a second-rate painting"
About this Quote
Maslow’s line lands like a prank on the art world, then quietly exposes a deeper creed: creativity isn’t a sacred category reserved for galleries; it’s a quality of attention. Pitting soup against painting is deliberately mischievous because it scrambles the prestige hierarchy. “Painting” arrives pre-certified as Culture, while “soup” is domestic, anonymous, and destined to be consumed. Maslow flips the status math: excellence in an everyday act can outrank mediocrity in a consecrated one.
The subtext is classic humanistic psychology. For Maslow, “first-rate” isn’t about fame or market value; it’s about self-actualizing workmanship - competence, presence, and care. A first-rate soup implies tasting, adjusting, responding to the moment: an engaged maker in feedback with materials and people. A second-rate painting implies the opposite: going through the motions, borrowing gestures of artistry without the lived intensity that makes them real.
Context matters. Mid-century America was industrializing taste along with everything else, and psychology was busy measuring humans like machines. Maslow pushed back, arguing that peak experiences and intrinsic motivation are central, not decorative. The quote is a neat, quotable insurgency against credentialed creativity: don’t confuse the medium with the achievement.
It also carries a moral jab. If you’re “an artist” producing second-rate work, Maslow suggests you’re not only less creative than a great cook - you’re wasting the very freedom you claim. Excellence, not identity, is the point.
The subtext is classic humanistic psychology. For Maslow, “first-rate” isn’t about fame or market value; it’s about self-actualizing workmanship - competence, presence, and care. A first-rate soup implies tasting, adjusting, responding to the moment: an engaged maker in feedback with materials and people. A second-rate painting implies the opposite: going through the motions, borrowing gestures of artistry without the lived intensity that makes them real.
Context matters. Mid-century America was industrializing taste along with everything else, and psychology was busy measuring humans like machines. Maslow pushed back, arguing that peak experiences and intrinsic motivation are central, not decorative. The quote is a neat, quotable insurgency against credentialed creativity: don’t confuse the medium with the achievement.
It also carries a moral jab. If you’re “an artist” producing second-rate work, Maslow suggests you’re not only less creative than a great cook - you’re wasting the very freedom you claim. Excellence, not identity, is the point.
Quote Details
| Topic | Cooking |
|---|---|
| Source | Verified source: Toward a Psychology of Being (Abraham Maslow, 1968)
Evidence: I learned from her and others like her that a first-rate soup is more creative than a second-rate painting, and that, generally, cooking or parenthood or making a home could be creative while poetry need not be; it could be uncreative. (Chapter 10, “Creativity in Self-Actualizing People”, p. 136). Primary-source location: Maslow includes the line as part of a longer passage in his own book, in the chapter commonly titled “Creativity in Self-Actualizing People.” Multiple secondary sources point to the 1968 (2nd) edition and provide the page reference (p. 136). ([studylib.net](https://studylib.net/doc/26065719/creativity-in-the-classroom-schools-of-curious-delight-by...?utm_source=openai)) I did not find a reliably viewable scan of the 1962 first edition to confirm whether the line appears there (or on what page), so I cannot confirm the *first* publication with high confidence. Catalog records confirm the book originally appeared in 1962 (Van Nostrand), with a 2nd edition in 1968; the quote is definitely present in the 1968 text. ([openlibrary.org](https://openlibrary.org/books/OL59081447M/toward_a_psychology_of_being?utm_source=openai)) Other candidates (1) Creative Writing (Kathryn Ann Lindskoog, 1989) compilation80.0% ... Abraham Maslow pointed out correctly that a first - rate soup is more creative than a second - rate painting ; an... |
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Citation Formats
APA Style (7th ed.)
Maslow, Abraham. (2026, February 11). A first-rate soup is more creative than a second-rate painting. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/a-first-rate-soup-is-more-creative-than-a-29501/
Chicago Style
Maslow, Abraham. "A first-rate soup is more creative than a second-rate painting." FixQuotes. February 11, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/a-first-rate-soup-is-more-creative-than-a-29501/.
MLA Style (9th ed.)
"A first-rate soup is more creative than a second-rate painting." FixQuotes, 11 Feb. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/a-first-rate-soup-is-more-creative-than-a-29501/. Accessed 12 Feb. 2026.
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