"Only practical work and experience lead the young to maturity."
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Quote collection
Maria Montessori quotes (page 10 of 17)
321 quotes — follow a thought to its full quote page.
"Praise, help, or even a look, may be enough to interrupt him, or destroy the activity. It seems a strange thing to say, but this can happen even if the child merely becomes aware of being watched. After all, we too sometimes feel unable to go on working if someone comes to see what we are doing. 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. Naturally, one can see what he is doing with a quick glance, but without his being aware of it."
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"Never help a child with a task that they feel they can complete themselves."
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"Free choice is one of the highest of all the mental processes."
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"Solicitous care for living things affords satisfaction to one of the most lively instincts of the child's mind. Nothing is better calculated than this to awaken an attitude of foresight."
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"All human victories, all human progress, stand upon the inner force."
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"If children are allowed free development and given occupation to correspond with their unfolding minds their natural goodness will shine forth."
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"We cannot create observers by saying 'observe,' but by giving them the power and the means for this observation and these means are procured through education of the senses."
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"Our goal is not so much the imparting of knowledge as the unveiling and developing of spiritual energy."
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"There are many who hold, as I do, that the most important part of life is not the age of university studies, but the first one, the period from birth to the age of six. For that is the time when a man's intelligence itself, his greatest implement, is being formed. But not only his intelligence; the full totality of his psychic powers."
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"Do not erase the designs the child makes in the soft wax of his inner life."
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"No one who has ever done anything really great or successful has ever done it simply because he was attracted by what we call a 'reward' or by the fear of what we call a 'punishment.'"
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"When the children had completed an absorbing bit of work, they appeared rested and deeply pleased. It almost seemed as if a road had opened up within their souls that led to all their latent powers, revealing the better part of themselves. They exhibited a great affability to everyone, put themselves out to help others and seemed full of good will."
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"Human dignity ... is derived from a sense of independence."
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"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." And these words reveal their inner needs."
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"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 . . . 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."
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"If a child finds no stimuli for the activities which would contribute to his development, he is attracted simply to 'things' and desires to posses them."
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"Concentration is a part of life. It is not the consequence of a method of education."
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"Freedom without organization of work would be useless. The child left free without means of work would go to waste, just as a new-born baby, if left free without nourishment, would die of starvation.The organization of the work, therefore, is the cornerstone of this new structure of goodness [in education], but even that organization would be in vain without the liberty to make use of it."
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"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."
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