Quotes from Maria Montessori

I have for many years interested myself in the study of children from three years upwards. Many have urged me to continue my studies on the same lines with older children. But what I have felt to be most vital is the need for more careful and particularized study of the tiny child.

Temptation, if it is not to conquer, must not fall like a bomb against another bomb of instantaneous moral explosions, but against the strong walls of an impregnable fortress strongly built up, stone by stone, beginning at that distant day when the foundations were first laid.

Noble ideas, great sentiments have always existed and have always been transmitted, but wars have never ceased.

The child, merely by going on with his life, learns to speak the language belonging to his race. It is like a mental chemistry that takes place in the child.

It is surprising to notice that even from the earliest age, man finds the greatest satisfaction in feeling independent. The exalting feeling of being sufficient to oneself comes as a revelation.

Dependence is not patriotism. A man does not love his mother if he hangs about her to the point of burdening her with a weak, feckless son.

There must be provision for the child to have contact with nature; to understand and appreciate the order, the harmony and the beauty in nature.

A child is mysterious and powerful; And contains within himself the secret of human nature.

How often is the soul of man - especially in childhood - deprived because he is not allowed to come in contact with nature.

Except when he has regressive tendencies, the child's nature is to aim directly and energetically at functional independence.

In nature nothing creates itself and nothing destroys itself.

Free the child's potential, and you will transform him into the world.

If help and salvation are to come they can only come from the children, for the children are the makers of men.

Peace is what every human being is craving for, and it can be brought about by humanity through the child.

Preventing war is the work of politicians, establishing peace is the work of educationists.

The child has a mind able to absorb knowledge. He has the power to teach himself.

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.

The first idea that the child must acquire, in order to be actively disciplined, is that of the difference between good and evil.

We all know the sense of comfort of which we are conscious when a good half of the floor space in a room is unencumbered this seems to offer us the agreeable possibility of moving about freely.

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.'

But an adult if he is to provide proper guidance, must always be calm and act slowly so that the child who is watching him can clearly see his actions in all their particulars.

These words reveal the child's inner needs; 'Help me to do it alone'.

The child is both a hope and a promise for mankind.

This is the treasure we need today - helping the child become independent of us and make his way by himself, receiving in return his gifts of hope and light.