Maria Montessori

"The child's personality unfolds when given the freedom to express itself naturally."

"Order in the environment supports order in the mind."

"A small child should know the joy of discovery, not merely the satisfaction of obtaining information."

"The teacher must be a guide, a support, never an obstacle."

"The sensorial experiences of the child are the materials for all thinking and reasoning."

"The essence of education is not to make the child learn about the world, but to reveal the world to him."

"A child's mind is like fertile soil ready to receive seeds of knowledge."

"We teach too much and allow the child to discover too little."

"The human hand becomes an instrument of the will, and the will leads toward the infinite."

"The child who has once experienced the joy of discovery, the triumph of intellectual conquest, has tasted of the fruit of the tree of knowledge and will hunger for more."

"To develop a complete human being and a complete society, we must represent the whole of humanity, for all forms of life are connected."

"The first idea the child must acquire is that of the difference between good and evil."

"Play is the child's work, and work should always have the dignity of play."

"The environment itself will teach the child, if every atom of it is allowed to."

"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."

"The child is the builder of the man, and no existing human being can be ignored in our educational system."

"Help me to do it myself is the cry of the child who is ready to learn."

"Education is not something we impose but something we offer as a gift of love."

"The teacher must derive not only the capacity, but the desire, to observe natural phenomena."

"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.'"

"The human being is constructed in such a way that he is continually drawn towards independence."

"We are not preparing the child for future life; we are preparing him for present life."

"The individual is not just a member of a social unit; the individual IS the social unit."

"The child who has learned to respect the work of others, has learned the first condition of a civilized society."

"To let the child do as he pleases when he has not yet developed any powers of self-control, is to betray the idea of freedom."

"The hand is the instrument of human intelligence, and the mind becomes conscious of external reality through the hand."

"The child must know that he is a miracle, that since the beginning of the world there has been no child like him and that never again will a child like him exist."

"Education must begin with birth and continue until death."

"The adult who has lost his sense of wonder is not truly alive."

"When a child says, 'I can't do it,' what he means is, 'I can't do it alone.'"