Maria Montessori

"One test of the correctness of educational procedure is the happiness of the child."

"The power of instruction is seldom of much efficacy except in those happy dispositions where it is employed to decide the prevailing bias."

"Our task is not to create a society in which everyone is the same, but to accept a society in which all men are different."

"The greatest joy an adult can experience is to see a child succeed."

"Observation is the supreme educator."

"The development of the child is a series of consecutive activities."

"A human being is constructed as a being who can always go farther."

"Education is the most powerful tool for changing the world."

"The child is the builder of man."

"The task of the teacher is not to talk, but to prepare and arrange a series of motives for cultural activity in a prepared environment."

"Freedom is not given by anyone; it is to be acquired by oneself."

"The child's conquests are made through movement and his thought is awakened through movement."

"Parents are often too much occupied with their own affairs to really listen to their children."

"Play is the work of the child."

"The sense of touch is fundamental to the child's understanding of the world."

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

"The child must develop a sense of responsibility."

"A new education requires a new type of teacher."

"The goal of early childhood education should be to activate the child's own desire to learn."

"The child can only develop by being active."

"Civilization has to be reconstructed by each individual child."

"The adult must be quiet and unobtrusive."

"The child's mind is absorbent; it absorbs the world around him."

"The environment must be rich in motives which lend themselves to activity."

"Love is the force that gives us the energy to run the world."

"The child is the father of man."

"Everyone desires peace in the world, but world peace cannot exist without inner peace."

"The development of a human being cannot be accomplished by anyone but himself."

"The prepared environment is a fundamental part of my method."

"All that we are is the result of what we have thought."