“When a child is given a little leeway, he will at once shout, ’I want to do it!’ But in our schools, which have an environment adapted to children’s needs, they say, ‘Help me to do it alone.’”—maria montessori
“The child who concentrates is immensely happy.” —maria montessori
“At some given moment it happens that the child becomes deeply interested in a piece of work; we see it in the expression on his face, his intense concentration, the devotion to the exercise.” —maria montessori
“The hand is the instrument of intelligence. The child needs to manipulate objects and to gain experience by touching and handling. ” —maria montessori
“Education must begin at birth.” —maria montessori
“The satisfaction which they find in their work has given them a grace and ease like that which comes from music.” —maria montessori
“A child who has become master of his acts through long and repeated exercises, and who has been encouraged by the pleasant and interesting activities in which he has been engaged, is a child filled with health and joy and remarkable for his calmness and discipline.” —maria montessori
“Praise, help, or even a look, may be enough to interrupt him, or destroy the activity…. The great principle which brings success to the teacher is this: as soon as concentration has begun, act as if the child does not exist.” —maria montessori
“As we observe children, we see the vitality of their spirit, the maximum effort put forth in all they do, the intuition, attention and focus they bring to all life’s events, and the sheer joy they experience in living.” —maria montessori
“The child who has never learned to work by himself, to set goals for his own acts, or to be the master of his own force of will is recognizable in the adult who lets others guide his will and feels a constant need for approval of others.” —maria montessori
“… in every child is the seed that will mature into an adult.” —maria montessori
“In the child is much knowledge, much wisdom. If we do not profit from it, it is only because of neglect on our part to become humble and to see the wonder of this soul and learn what the child can teach.” —maria montessori
“The child looks for his independence first, not because he does not desire to be dependent on the adult. But because he has in himself some fire, some urge, to do certain things and not other things.” —maria montessori
“It is necessary that the child teach himself, and then the success is great.” —maria montessori
“Children acquire knowledge through experience in the environment.” —maria montessori
“Children are endowed with a power that enables them to reconstruct things which are very complex, and they do so with a great deal of pleasure.” —maria montessori
“Adults move because their will directs them. The small child is urged by nature.” —maria montessori
“… the child’s individual liberty must be so guided that through his activity he may arrive at independence … the child who does not do, does not know how to do.” —maria montessori
“The teacher has two tasks: to lead the children to concentration and to help them in their development afterwards.” —maria montessori
“The teacher’s task is not to talk, but to prepare and arrange a series of motives for cultural activity in a special environment made for the child.” —maria montessori
“The instructions of the teacher consist then merely in a hint, a touch—enough to give a start to the child. The rest develops of itself.” —maria montessori
“Here is an essential principal of education: to teach details is to bring confusion; to establish the relationship between things is to bring knowledge.” —maria montessori
“The teacher, when she begins work in our schools, must have a kind of faith that the child will reveal himself through work.” —maria montessori
“An ordinary teacher cannot be transformed into a Montessori teacher, but must be created anew, having rid herself of pedagogical prejudices.” —maria montessori
“She [the Montessori teacher] must acquire a moral alertness which has not hitherto been demanded by any other system, and this is revealed in her tranquility, patience, charity, and humility. Not words, but virtues, are her main qualifications.” —maria montessori
“The fundamental help in development, especially with little children of 3 years of age, is not to interfere. Interference stops activity and stops concentration.” —maria montessori
“It is not true,” says Dr. Montessori, “that I invented what is called the Montessori Method. I have studied the child, I have taken what the child has given me and expressed it, and that is what is called the Montessori Method.”-maria montessori
“To let the child do as he likes when he has not yet developed any powers of control, is to betray the idea of freedom … . Real freedom, instead, is a consequence of development; it is the development of latent guides, aided by education.” —maria montessori
“Discipline is born when the child concentrates his attention on some object that attracts him and which provides him not only with a useful exercise but with a control of error. Thanks to these exercises … the child becomes calm, radiantly happy, busy, forgetful of himself and, in consequence, indifferent to prizes or material rewards.” —maria montessori
“… the task of the educator lies in seeing that the child does not confound good with immobility, and evil with activity, as often happens in old-time discipline.” —Montessori Method
“A room in which all the children move about usefully, intelligently, and voluntarily, without committing any rough or rude act, would seem to me a classroom very well disciplined indeed.” —maria montessori
“The child is both a hope and a promise for mankind.” —maria montessori
“We shall walk together on this path of life, for all things are part of the universe and are connected with each other to form one whole unity.” —maria montessori
“Education is the best weapon for peace.” —maria montessori
“True peace … suggests the triumph of justice and love among men; it reveals the existence of a better world where harmony reigns.” —maria montessori
“An education capable of saving humanity is no small undertaking: it involves the spiritual development of man, the enhancement of his value as an individual, and the preparation of young people to understand the times in which they live.” —maria montessori
“If we are among the men of good will who yearn for peace, we must lay the foundation for peace ourselves, by working for the social world of the child.” —maria montessori
“The only true freedom for an individual is to have the opportunity to act independently … there is no such thing as an individual until a person can act by himself.” —maria montessori
“Preventing conflicts is the work of politics; establishing peace is the work of education.”—maria montessori
“This is the hope we have—a hope in a new humanity that will come from this new education, an education that is collaboration of man and the universe….”
-maria montessori