Basic Human Needs Quotes

There are four basic human needs; food, sleep, sex and revenge.

Banksy

Art, Sex, Revenge

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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.

Abraham Maslow

Pain, Self Esteem, Stress

Abraham Harold Maslow (1999). “Toward a psychology of being”, Wiley

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I have seen that technology has contributed to improved communication, that it's contributed to better health care, that it's contributed to better food supplies, that it has contributed to all the basic human needs.

John Warnock

Communication, Technology, Needs

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Star Trek speaks to some basic human needs: that there is a tomorrow — it's not all going to be over with a big flash and a bomb; that the human race is improving; that we have things to be proud of as humans. No, ancient astronauts did not build the pyramids — human beings built them, because they're clever and they work hard. And Star Trek is about those things.

Gene Roddenberry

Stars, Clever, Hard Work

Interview on September 20, 1988. Included in "Star Trek: The Next Generation, Season 5" DVD No. 7, "Mission Logs: Year Five/A Tribute to Gene Roddenberry",

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No matter what part of the world we come from, we are all basically the same human beings. We all seek happiness and try to avoid suffering. We have the same basic human needs and concerns. All of us human beings want freedom and the right to determine our own destiny as individuals and as peoples. That is human nature.

Dalai Lama

Destiny, Suffering, Trying

The 14th Dalai Lama's Acceptance Speech, on the occasion of the award of the Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo, Norway, www.nobelprize.org. December 10, 1989.

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Because we haven’t been taught to appreciate and love ourselves in this way, we don’t feel like we deserve self-care and pleasure. Instead, we cling to our To Do lists and sacrifice our health and well-being for the sake of others. Then, when we feel deprived of our basic human need for relaxation and enjoyment, we turn to food as our sole source of pleasure. When we then try to deprive ourselves of food through dieting, we deny the last bit of pleasure we have in our lives. And that strategy never works!

Jessica Ortner

Sacrifice, Self, Appreciate

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It has been said that next to hunger and thirst, our most basic human need is for storytelling.

Khalil Gibran

Needs, Hunger And Thirst, Next

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Ancient astronauts didn't build the pyramids. Human beings built the pyramids, because they're clever and they work hard.

Gene Roddenberry

Clever, Hard Work, Pyramids

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It is a basic human need that everyone wants to
live a happy life. For this, one has to experience
real happiness. The so-called happiness that one
experiences by having money, power, and
indulging in sensual pleasures is not real
happiness. It is very fragile, unstable and fleeting.
For real happiness, for lasting stable happiness,
one has to make a journey deep within oneself and
get rid of all the unhappiness stored in the deeper
levels of the mind. As long as there is misery at
the depth of the mind all attempts to feel happy
at the surface level of the mind prove futile.

S. N. Goenka

Real, Happy Life, Journey

S. N. Goenka (2012). “Meditation Now: Inner Peace through Inner Wisdom”, p.42, Pariyatti Publishing

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Morals are concerned with what aids or impedes the fulfillment of basic human needs.

Peggy Noonan

Needs, Moral, Aids

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Motivation and inspiration energize people, not by pushing them in the right direction as control mechanisms do but by satisfying basic human needs for achievement, a sense of belonging, recognition, self-esteem, a feeling of control over one's life, and the ability to live up to one's ideals. Such feelings touch us deeply and elicit a powerful response.

John P. Kotter

Leadership, Motivation, Powerful

John P. Kotter (1999). “John P. Kotter on what Leaders Really Do”, p.60, Harvard Business Press

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I want New Story education to be skilling human beings and young people to provide basic human needs. Technology and all other things are icing on the cake.

Satish Kumar

Technology, Cake, People

"An Interview with Satish Kumar at the New Story Summit". Kosmos Interview, www.kosmosjournal.org. November 18, 2014.

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Safety is a basic human need. People with a sense of security and belonging are stabilized for learning, creating, innovating. A group of wonderfully cared for, confident individuals will generate great ideas.

John Sweeney

Ideas, Creating, People

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For as long as human beings are forced to live in a system that at every turn impedes the fulfillment of their basic human needs - not only for love but for creative and spiritual expression - they will try to compensate for this in other ways, including the compulsive acquisition of ever more material goods.

Riane Eisler

Spiritual, Loss, Expression

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Militarism is the most energy-intensive, entropic activity of humans, since it converts stored energy and materials directly into waste and destruction without any useful intervening fulfillment of basic human needs. Ironically, the net effect of military, as opposed to civilian, expenditures is to increase unemployment and inflation.

Hazel Henderson

Military, Energy, Needs

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Once one has been to these challenging terrible places they’re always strangely drawn back… because there’s nothing that can compare to seeing the raw reality of the basic human need for survival. It disgusts and inspires

Dan Eldon

Reality, Challenges, Inspire

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It's a bit counter-intuitive to think about the future in terms of the past. But...I've learned an important trick: to develop foresight, you need to practice hindsight. Technologies, cultures, and climates may change, but our basic human needs and desires - to survive, to care for our families, and to lead happy, purposeful lives - remain the same.' p 5

Jane McGonigal

Thinking, Past, Technology

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Kids suffering, with no opportunities for lack of having their basic human needs [met], like food, health, and education, but at the same time, [it] motivates me to keep fighting for them, for the ones less fortunate.

Patricia Velasquez

Kids, Fighting, Opportunity

"Patricia Velasquez – Supermodel, Actor and Author". Interview with Monica Melsness, nicheandnook.com. October 3, 2015.

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If you look at the Earth without architecture, its sometimes a little bit unpleasant. So there is this basic human need to do shelter in the broadest sense of the word, whether its a movie theater or a simple log cabin in the mountains. This is the core of architecture: To provide a space for human beings.

Peter Zumthor

Simple, Space, Mountain

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The young love and cherish people and places from which they receive the skills and the emotional support which enable them to make it in the world or to meet their basic human needs. The same people and places are often the first recipients of the frustration and anger--violence, vandalism, disrespect--of young people who are not making it well in the world. I suspect that this is the reason that personal and school property violence is increasing more rapidly than school burglary and dropout rates.

James P. Comer

School, Frustration, Emotional

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Reliable and affordable energy is essential for meeting basic human needs and fueling economic growth, but many of the most difficult and dangerous environmental problems at every level of economic development arise from the harvesting, transport, processing, and conversion of energy

John Holdren

Growth, Environmental, Energy

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I've always thought that the key to a good sex life is variety. That's why God gave me two hands. Humans love sex, we need sex, it's how we connect, it reminds us we're alive, it's the third most basic human need, after food and good movie popcorn.

Billy Crystal

Sex, Hands, Two

Billy Crystal (2013). “Still Foolin' 'Em: Where I've Been, Where I'm Going, and Where the Hell Are My Keys?”, p.10, Macmillan

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