Lev Vygotsky

"The only good learning is that which is in advance of development."

"Play is not the predominant form of activity in children, but it is a very important form and may well be, at a certain period, the leading activity in which the future motives that will govern the child's actual, serious life and activity in the future are developed."

"Learning awakens a variety of internal developmental processes that are able to operate only when the child is interacting with people in his environment and in cooperation with his peers."

"A child's learning begins long before he attends school."

"The most significant moment in the child's development is when speech and practical activity converge."

"To understand another human being you must gain entrance into his specific world of meanings, which is the world as he sees it, feels it, and experiences it."

"The mind is not a vessel to be filled but a fire to be kindled."

"What a child can do with assistance today she will be able to do by herself tomorrow."

"The zone of proximal development defines those functions that have not yet matured but are in the process of maturation."

"We accomplish by practice; and learning by doing is the fundamental principle."

"Humans are the only beings that are capable of becoming fully human."

"Every function in the child's cultural development appears twice: first, on the social level, and later, on the individual level."

"Children grow into the intellectual life of those around them."

"The mediation of tools and symbols in human activity is the defining characteristic of human consciousness."

"Imagination is the foundation of all human activity."

"A concept is dead, hollow, and empty when it is not accompanied by sensuous richness."

"The development of the child is a complex dialectical process characterized by periodicity, unevenness in the development of different functions, metamorphosis or qualitative transformation of one form into another, intertwining of external and internal factors, and adaptive processes overcoming impediments that the child encounters."

"Thought is not merely expressed in words; it comes into existence through them."

"The very essence of development is the presence of conflict and contradiction."

"Language is the most important psychological tool that human beings have developed."

"Culture is the product of social life and of social activity of man."

"Teaching should be organized so that it presents children not with finished concepts but with the conditions necessary for the creation of these concepts."

"Higher psychological functions are all characterized by being mediated."

"The child begins to perceive the world not only through his eyes but through his speech."

"A healthy minded person doesn't fight reality, but adapts to it."

"The true direction of the development of thought is not from the individual to the social, but from the social to the individual."

"Self-regulation emerges gradually and is perfected through practice."

"The relationship between learning and development is the fundamental problem of pedagogy."

"Consciousness reflects reality and acts upon it."

"To make learning effective, instruction must be two or three years ahead of development."