The task of the educator lies in seeing that the child does not confound good with immobility and evil with activity.
The greatness of the human personality begins at the hour of birth.
Work is necessary; it can be nothing less than a passion; a person is happy in accomplishment.
The word education must not be understood in the sense of teaching but of assisting the psychological development of the child.
The child’s parents are not his makers but his guardians.
Free choice is one of the highest of all the mental processes.
We must help the child to act for himself, will for himself, think for himself; this is the art of those who aspire to serve the spirit.
Two things are necessary, the development of individuality and the participation of the individual in a truly social life.
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.
A new education from birth onwards must be built up. Education must be reconstructed and based on the law of nature and not on the preconceived notions and prejudices of adult society.
Environment is undoubtedly a secondary factor in the phenomena of life; it can modify in that it can help or hinder, but it can never create.
The greatness of the human personality begins at the hour of birth. From this almost mystic affirmation there comes what may seem a strange conclusion: that education must start from birth.
It is well to cultivate a friendly feeling towards error, to treat it as a companion inseparable from our lives, as something having a purpose, which it truly has.
If we really want children to grow into independent and resourceful adults, we should stop pouring their milk as soon as they have learned to pour it themselves and stop fastening their buttons as soon as they can fasten them without help.
No one can be free unless he is independent. Therefore, the first active manifestations of the child’s individual liberty must be so guided that through this activity he may arrive at independence.
Order is one of the needs of life which, when it is satisfied, produces a real happiness.
Freedom in intellectual work is found to be the basis of internal discipline.
The exercises of practical life are formative activities, a work of adaptation to the environment. Such adaptation to the environment and efficient functioning therein is the very essence of a useful education.
We do not believe in the educative power of words and commands alone, but seek cautiously, and almost without the child’s knowing it, to guide his natural activity.
The child endures all things.