Maria Montessori

Whatever is presented to him must be made beautiful and clear, striking his imagination. Once this love has been kindled, all problems…

— Maria Montessori

Sometimes very small children in a proper environment develop a skill and exactness in their work that can only surprise us.

— Maria Montessori

It would be so simple to allow children, when tired of sitting, to rise, and when tired of writing, to desist, and…

— Maria Montessori

It is true that we cannot make a genius. We can only give to teach child the chance to fulfil his potential…

— Maria Montessori

Childhood constitutes the most important element in an adult's life, for it is in his early years that a man is made.

— Maria Montessori

The word education must not be understood in the sense of teaching but of assisting the psychological development of the child.

— Maria Montessori

What advice can we give to new mothers? Their children need to work at an interesting occupation: they should not be helped…

— Maria Montessori

He does it with his hands, by experience, first in play and then through work. The hands are the instruments of man's…

— Maria Montessori

This system in which a child is constantly moving objects with his hands and actively exercising his senses, also takes into account…

— Maria Montessori

One who has drunk at the fountain of spiritual happiness says good-by of his own accord to the satisfactions that come from…

— Maria Montessori

Scientific observation then has established that education is not what the teacher gives; education is a natural process spontaneously carried out by…

— Maria Montessori

No one can help us to achieve the intimate isolation by which we find our secret worlds, so mysterious, rich and full.…

— Maria Montessori

The essence of independence is to be able to do something for one’s self. Adults work to finish a task, but the…

— Maria Montessori

Through machinery, man can exert tremendous powers almost as fantastic as if he were the hero of a fairy tale. Through machinery,…

— Maria Montessori

In the first three years of life, the foundations of physical and also of psychic health are laid. In these years, the…

— Maria Montessori

A child starts from nothing and advances alone. It is the child's reason about which the sensitive periods revolve. The reason provides…

— Maria Montessori

Our aim is not merely to make the child understand, and still less to force him to memorize, but so to touch…

— Maria Montessori

The child, merely by going on with his life, learns to speak the language belonging to his race. It is like a…

— Maria Montessori

But if for the physical life it is necessary to have the child exposed to the vivifying forces of nature, it is…

— Maria Montessori

The greatest step forward in human evolution was made when society began to help the weak and the poor, instead of oppressing…

— Maria Montessori

The child's conquest of independence begins with his first introduction to life. While he is developing, he perfects himself and overcomes every…

— Maria Montessori

“Dr. Montessori believes in liberty for the pupil because she thinks of life "as a superb goddess, ever advancing to new conquests."…

— Maria Montessori

No social problem is as universal as the oppression of the child ... No slave was ever so much the property of…

— Maria Montessori

All the movements of our body are not merely those dictated by impulse or weariness; they are the correct expression of what…

— Maria Montessori

By the age of three, the child has already laid down the foundations of his personality as a human being, and only…

— Maria Montessori

The child's true constructive energy, a dynamic power, has remained unnoticed for thousands of years. Just as men have trodden the earth,…

— Maria Montessori

Red RodsBefore elaborating any system of education, we must therefore create a favorable environment that will encourage the flowering of a child's…

— Maria Montessori

Growth and psychic development are therefore guided by: the absorbent mind, the nebulae and the sensitive periods, with their respective mechanisms. It…

— Maria Montessori

Movement, or physical activity, is thus an essential factor in intellectual growth, which depends upon the impressions received from outside. Through movement…

— Maria Montessori

A child in his earliest years, when he is only two or a little more, is capable of tremendous achievements simply through…

— Maria Montessori

The laws governing the universe can be made interesting and wonderful to the child, more interesting even that things in themselves, and…

— Maria Montessori

At one year of age the child says his first intentional wordhis babbling has a purpose, and this intention is a proof…

— Maria Montessori

The greatest development is achieved during the first years of life, and therefore it is then that the greatest care should be…

— Maria Montessori

We teachers can only help the work going on, as servants wait upon a master. We then become witnesses to the development…

— Maria Montessori

Indeed there are powers in the small child that are far greater than is generally realized, because it is in this period…

— Maria Montessori

Within the child lies the fate of the future. Whoever wishes to confer some benefit on society must preserve him from deviations…

— Maria Montessori

The task of the educator lies in seeing that the child does not confound good with immobility, and evil with activity, as…

— Maria Montessori