A child starts from nothing and advances alone. It is the child’s reason about which the sensitive periods revolve. The reason provides the initial force and energy, and a child absorbs his first images to assist the reason and act on it.
The greatest source of discouragement is the conviction that one is unable to do something.
Education demands, then, only this: the utilization of the inner powers of the child for his own instruction.
There are many things which no teacher can convey to a child of three, but a child of five can do it with ease.
If the idea of the universe is presented to the child in the right way, it will do more for him than just arouse his interest, for it will create in him admiration and wonder, a feeling loftier than any interest and more satisfying.
The unknown energy that can help humanity is that which lies hidden in the child.
The needs of mankind are universal. Our means of meeting them create the richness and diversity of the planet. The Montessori child should come to relish the texture of that diversity.
The child, in fact, once he feels sure of himself, will no longer seek the approval of authority after every step.
Plainly, the environment must be a living one, directed by a higher intelligence, arranged by an adult who is prepared for his mission.
Preventing war is the work of politicians, establishing peace is the work of educationists.
Do not erase the designs the child makes in the soft wax of his inner life.
There is no description, no image in any book that is capable of replacing the sight of real trees, and all of the life to be found around them in a real forest.
When dealing with children there is greater need for observing than of probing.
The activity of the child has always been looked upon as an expression of his vitality.
Do not offer the child the content of the mind, but the order for that content.
There is in the child a special kind of sensitivity which leads him to absorb everything about him, and it is this work of observing and absorbing that alone enables him to adapt himself to life.
The study of love and its utilization will lead us to the source from which it springs, The Child.
To stimulate life, leaving it then free to develop, to unfold, herein lies the first task of the teacher.
Imitation is the first instinct of the awakening mind.
He who is served is limited in his independence.