Montessori Quotes

No adult can bear a child's burden or grow up in his stead. ~ Maria Montessori

Within the child lies the fate of the future. ~ Maria Montessori

By the age of three, the child has already laid down the foundations of his personality as a human being, and only then does he need the help of special scholastic influences. So great are the conquests he has made that one may well say: the child who goes to school at three is already a little man. ~ Maria Montessori

My vision of the future is no longer of people taking exams and proceeding from secondary school to University but of passing from one stage of independence to a higher, by means of their own activity and effort of will. ~ Maria Montessori

All work is noble; the only ignoble thing is to live without working. There is need to realize the value of work in all its forms whether manual or intellectual, to be called 'mate,' to have sympathetic understanding of all forms of activity. ~ Maria Montessori

The ancient superficial idea of the uniform and progressive growth of the human personality has remained unaltered, and the erroneous belief has persisted that it is the duty of the adult to fashion the child according to the pattern required by society. ~ Maria Montessori

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. ~ Maria Montessori

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

No social problem is as universal as the oppression of the child ~ Maria Montessori

Watch the unending activity of the flowing stream or the growing tree. See the breakers of the ocean, the unceasing movements of the earth, the planets, the sun and the stars. All creation is life, movement, work. ~ Maria Montessori

The teacher must derive not only the capacity, but the desire, to observe natural phenomena. The teacher must understand and feel her position of observer: the activity must lie in the phenomenon. ~ Maria Montessori

Joy is the evidence of inner growth. ~ Maria Montessori

Montessori called the child under six years old "a sensorial explorer" and based her educational approach for the child's early years upon the child's learning through the senses. ~ Paula Polk Lillard

From the child itself he will learn how to perfect himself as an educator. ~ Maria Montessori

The child endures all things. ~ Maria Montessori

Order is one of the needs of life which, when it is satisfied, produces a real happiness ~ Maria Montessori

Children display a universal love of mathematics, which is
par excellence the science of precision, order, and intelligence. ~ Maria Montessori

The environment acts more strongly upon the individual life the less fixed and strong this individual life may be. ~ Maria Montessori

The activity of the child has always been looked upon as an expression of his vitality. ~ Maria Montessori

If education is always to be conceived along the same antiquated lines of a mere transmission of knowledge, there is little to be hoped from it in the bettering of man's future. ~ Maria Montessori

If we can, when we have established individual discipline, arrange the children, sending each one to his own place, in order, trying to make them understand the idea that thus placed they look well, and that it is a good thing to be placed in order ... ~ Maria Montessori

No one can help us to achieve the intimate isolation by which we find our secret worlds, so mysterious, rich and full. If others intervene, it is destroyed. This degree of thought, which we attain by freeing ourselves from the external world, must be fed by the inner spirit, and our surroundings cannot influence us in any way other than to leave us in peace. ~ Maria Montessori

Every great cause is born from repeated failures and from imperfect achievements. ~ Maria Montessori

A man is not what he is because of the teachers he has had, but because of what he has done ~ Maria Montessori

The development of the individual can be described as a succession of new births at consecutively higher levels. ~ Maria Montessori

All human victories, all human progress, stand upon the inner force. ~ Maria Montessori

It is easy to substitute our will for that of the child by means of suggestion or coercion; but when we have done this we have robbed him of his greatest right, the right to construct his own personality. ~ 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 the initial force and energy, and a child absorbs his first images to assist the reason and act on it. ~ Maria Montessori

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. ~ Maria Montessori

There can be no substitute for work, neither affection nor physical well-being can replace it. ~ Maria Montessori

Growth comes from activity, not from intellectual understanding. ~ Maria Montessori

This is what is intended by education as a help to life; an education from birth that brings about a revolution: a revolution that eliminates every violence, a revolution in which everyone will be attracted towards a common center. Mothers, fathers, statesmen all will be centered upon respecting and aiding this delicate construction which is carried on in psychic mystery following the guide of an inner teacher. This is the new shining hope for humanity. It is not so much a reconstruction, as an aid to the construction carried out by the human soul as it is meant to be, developed in all the immense potentialities with which the new-born child is endowed. ~ Maria Montessori

The great constructive energies of the child ... have hitherto been concealed beneath an accumulation of ideas concerning motherhood. We used to say it was the mother who formed the child; for it is she who teaches him to walk, talk, and so on. But none of this is really done by the mother. It is an achievement of the child. What the mother brings forth is the baby, but it is the baby who produces the man. Should the mother die, the baby still grows up and completes his work of making the man. ~ Maria Montessori

When we want to infuse new ideas,
to modify or better the habits and customs of a people,
to breathe new vigor into its national traits,
we must use the children as our vehicle; for little can be accomplished with adults. ~ Maria Montessori

Education today, in this particular social period, is assuming truly unlimited importance. And the increased emphasis on its practical value can be summed up in one sentence: education is the best weapon for peace. ~ Maria Montessori

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. ~ Maria Montessori

The first aim of the prepared environment is, as far as it is possible, to render the growing child independent of the adult. ~ Maria Montessori

The man of character is the persistent man, the man who is faithful to his own word, his own convictions, his own affections. ~ Maria Montessori

Do not erase the designs the child makes in the soft wax of his inner life. ~ Maria Montessori

The development of language is part of the development of the personality, for words are the natural means of expressing thoughts and establishing understanding between people. ~ Maria Montessori

Children love to polish brass and silver, then move on to polishing their own shoes. ~ Tim Seldin

If the ways of the Almighty are not humanly logical, it is not the fault of the Almighty but of the limitations of human logic. ~ Maria Montessori

Under the urge of nature and according to the laws of development, though not understood by the adult, the child is obliged to be serious about two fundamental things ... the first is the love of activity ... The second fundamental thing is independence. ~ Maria Montessori

A humankind abandoned in its earlier formative stage becomes its own greatest threat to survival. ~ Maria Montessori

The person who is developing freely and naturally arrives at a spiritual equilibrium in which he is master of his actions, just as one who has acquired physical poise can move freely. ~ Maria Montessori

...Montessori decided her teachers must each write their own textbook based on their own understanding of Montessori education... her own personal guidebook to refer to, revise, and add to throughout her teaching career.
...By writing her own guidebook, the Montessori teacher is forced to think through her personal approach to the materials and the children on a deeper level than if she were merely handed someone else's answers. This policy of asking each teacher to state her own understanding of Montessori philosophy is consistent with a philosophy and method of education that asks children to discover their own answers, instead of expecting to appropriate and substitute someone else's experiences for their own. ~ Paula Polk Lillard

Movement, or physical activity, is thus an essential factor in intellectual growth, which depends upon the impressions received from outside. Through movement we come in contact with external reality, and it is through these contacts that we eventually acquire even abstract ideas. ~ Maria Montessori

Moral Education is the source of that spiritual equilibrium on which everything else depends and which may be compared to that physical equilibrium or sense of balance, without which it is impossible to stand upright or to move into any other position. ~ Maria Montessori

The adult ought never to mold the child after himself, but should leave him alone and work always from the deepest comprehension of the child himself. ~ Maria Montessori

The human hand allows the mind to reveal itself. ~ Maria Montessori

Think of all the love poured into him. Think of the tuitions for Montessori and music lessons. Think of the gasoline expended, the treads worn carting him to football games, basketball tournaments, and Little League. Think of the time spent regulating sleepovers. Think of the surprise birthday parties, the daycare, and the reference checks on babysitters. Think of World Book and Childcraft. Think of checks written for family photos. Think of credit cards charged for vacations. Think of soccer balls, science kits, chemistry sets, racetracks, and model trains. Think of all the embraces, all the private jokes, customs, greetings, names, dreams, all the shared knowledge and capacity of a black family injected into that vessel of flesh and bone. And think of how that vessel was taken, shattered on the concrete, and all its holy contents, all that had gone into him, sent flowing back to the earth. Think of your mother, who had no father. And your grandmother, who was abandoned by her father. And your grandfather, who was left behind by his father. And think of how Prince's daughter was now drafted into those solemn ranks and deprived of her birthright - that vessel which was her father, which brimmed with twenty-five years of love and was the investment of her grandparents and was to be her legacy. ~ Ta-Nehisi Coates

We await the successsive births in the soul of the child. We give all possible material, that nothing may lack to the groping soul, and then we watch for the perfect faculty to come, safeguarding the child from interruption so that it may carry its efforts through. ~ Maria Montessori

The child is essentially alien to this society of men and might express his position in the words of the Gospel: My kingdom is not of this world ~ Maria Montessori

My experiences as a Montessori teacher have led me to realize that our goal as educators is not to impart facts to children as though they were empty vessels to be filled, but to open their eyes so they can exclaim joyfully, "Wow, look at what I am becoming! I've got to know more!" (from Walking in Wonder) ~ Elizabeth White

To stimulate life, leaving it then free to develop, to unfold, herein lies the first task of the teacher. ~ Maria Montessori

What is generally known as discipline in traditional schools is not activity, but immobility and silence. It is not discipline, but something that festers inside a child, arousing his rebellious feelings. ~ Maria Montessori

A great deal of time and intellectual force are lost in the world, because the false seems great and the truth so small and insignificant. ~ Maria Montessori

Children are human beings to whom respect is due, superior to us by reason of their innocence and of the greater possibilities of their future. ~ Maria Montessori

The child who has felt a strong love for his surroundings and for all living creatures, who has discovered joy and enthusiasm in work, gives us reason to hope that humanity can develop in a new direction. ~ Maria Montessori

The environment must be rich in motives which lend interest to activity and invite the child to conduct his own experiences. ~ Maria Montessori

The essence of independence is to be able to do something for one's self. ~ Maria Montessori

To stimulate life, leaving it free, however, to unfold itself
that is the first duty of the educator. ~ Maria Montessori

Since it is through movement that the will realises itself, we should assist a child in his attempts to put his will into act. ~ Maria Montessori

When dealing with children there is greater need for observing than of probing ~ Maria Montessori

In the first three years of life, the foundations of physical and also of psychic health are laid. In these years, the child not only increases in size but passes through great transformations. This is the age in which language and movement develop. The child must be safeguarded in order that these activities may develop freely. ~ Maria Montessori

This is education, understood as a help to life; an education from birth, which feeds a peaceful revolution and unites all in a common aim, attracting them as to a single centre. Mothers, fathers, politicians: all must combine in their respect and help for this delicate work of formation, which the little child carries on in the depth of a profound psychological mystery, under the tutelage of an inner guide. This is the bright new hope for mankind. ~ Maria Montessori

We seek to sow life in the child rather than theories, to help him in his growth, mental and emotional as well as physical, and for that we must offer grand and lofty ideas to the human mind, ~ Maria Montessori

The greatest sign of success for a teacher is to be able to say, The children are now working as if I did not exist. ~ Maria Montessori

Growth and psychic development are therefore guided by: the absorbent mind, the nebulae and the sensitive periods, with their respective mechanisms. It is these that are hereditary and characteristic of the human species. But the promise they hold can only be fulfilled through the experience of free activity conducted in the environment. ~ Maria Montessori

The prize and punishments are incentives toward unnatural or forced effort, and, therefore we certainly cannot speak of the natural development of the child in connection with them. ~ Maria Montessori

If the child shows through its conversation that the educational work of the school is being undermined by the attitude taken in his home, he will be sent back to his parents, to teach them thus how to take advantage of their good opportunities. ~ Maria Montessori

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

A method of schooling founded by the Italian educator Maria Montessori that emphasizes collaborative, explorative learning, and whose alumni include Google's founders, Sergey Brin and Larry Page; Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales; video-game designer Will Wright; Amazon's founder, Jeff Bezos; chef Julia Child; and rap impresario Sean Combs. ~ Daniel Coyle

The child's conquests of independence are the basic steps in what is called his 'natural development'. ~ Maria Montessori

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. ~ Maria Montessori

Great tact and delicacy is necessary for the care of the mind of a child from three to six years, and an adult can have very little of it. ~ Maria Montessori

What is a scientist? ... We give the name scientist to the type of man who has felt experiment to be a means guiding him to search out the deep truth of life, to lift a veil from its fascinating secrets, and who, in this pursuit, has felt arising within him a love for the mysteries of nature, so passionate as to annihilate the thought of himself. ~ Maria Montessori

It is fortunate, I think, that nature is not bounded by human reason and by laboratory work and experimentation, for by the laws of pure reason and by microscopic investigation, it might easily have been proved, long before this, that children could not be born. ~ Maria Montessori

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. ~ Maria Montessori

The child has other powers than ours, and the creation he achieves is no small one; it is everything. ~ Maria Montessori

He who is served is limited in his independence. ~ Maria Montessori

It is almost possible to say that there is a mathematical relationship between the beauty of his surroundings and the activity of the child; he will make discoveries rather more voluntarily in a gracious setting than in an ugly one. ~ Maria Montessori

The task of the educator lies in seeing that the child does not confound good with immobility and evil with activity. ~ Maria Montessori

Through machinery, man can exert tremendous powers almost as fantastic as if he were the hero of a fairy tale. Through machinery, man can travel with an ever increasing velocity; he can fly through the air and go beneath the surface of the ocean. ~ Maria Montessori

If we try to think back to the dim and distant past ... what is it that helps us reconstruct those times, and to picture the lives of those who lived in them? It is their art ... It is thanks to the hand, the companion of the mind, that civilization has arisen. ~ Maria Montessori

A child is an eager observer and is particularly attracted by the actions of the adults and wants to imitate them. In this regard an adult can have a kind of mission. He can be an inspiration for the child's actions, a kind of open book wherein a child can learn how to direct his own movements. But an adult, if he is to afford 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. ~ Maria Montessori

Only when the child is able to identify its own center with the center of the universe does education really begin. ~ Maria Montessori

It is exactly in the repetition of the exercises that the education of the senses exists; not that the child shall know colors, forms or qualities, but that he refine his senses through an exercise of attention, comparison and judgment. ~ Maria Montessori

It is in the encounter of the maternal guiding instincts with the sensitive periods of the newly born that conscious love develops between parent and child. ~ Maria Montessori

There should be music in the child's environment, just as there does exist in the child's environment spoken speech. In the social environment the child should be considered and music should be provided. ~ Maria Montessori

Woman was always the custodian of human sentiment, morality and honour, and in these respects, man always has yielded woman the palm. ~ 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 intelligence. ~ Maria Montessori

Do not tell them how to do it. Show them how to do it and do not say a word. If you tell them, they will watch your lips move. If you show them, they will want to do it themselves. ~ Maria Montessori

We shall walk together on this path of life, for all things are part of the universe and are connected with each other to form one whole unity. ~ Maria Montessori

In roughly the last century, important experiments have been launched by such charismatic educators as Maria Montessori, Rudolf Steiner, Shinichi Suzuki, John Dewey, and A. S. Neil. These approaches have enjoyed considerable success[ ... ] Yet they have had relatively little impact on the mainstream of education throughout the contemporary world. ~ Howard Gardner

Independence is not a static condition; it is a continuous conquest, and in order to reach not only freedom, but also strength, and the perfecting on one's powers, it is necessary to follow this path of unremitting toil. ~ Maria Montessori

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. ~ Maria Montessori

Two things are necessary, the development of individuality and the participation of the individual in a truly social life. ~ Maria Montessori

The purpose of life is to obey the hidden command which ensures harmony among all and creates an ever better world. We are not created only to enjoy the world, we are created in order to evolve the cosmos. ~ Maria Montessori

Any child who is self-sufficient , who can ties his shoes, dress or undress himself, reflects in his joy and sense of achievement the image of human dignity which is derived from a sense of independence. ~ Maria Montessori