Maria Montessori Quotes - Page 6

The real preparation for education is a study of one's self. The training of the teacher...is something far more than a learning of ideas. It includes the training of character; it is a preparation of the spirit.

Work is necessary; it can be nothing less than a passion; a person is happy in accomplishment.

A vital force is active in every individual and leads it towards its own evolution.

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.

If education recognizes the intrinsic value of the child's personality and provides an environment suited to spiritual growth, we have the revelation of an entirely new child whose astonishing characteristics can eventually contribute to the betterment of the world.

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

It is not enough for the teacher to love the child. She must first love and understand the universe. She must prepare herself, and truly work at it.

The hands are the instruments of man’s intelligence.

We cannot know the consequences of suppressing a child's spontaneity when he is just beginning to be active. We may even suffocate life itself. That humanity which is revealed in all its intellectual splendor during the sweet and tender age of childhood should be respected with a kind of religious veneration. It is like the sun which appears at dawn or a flower just beginning to bloom. Education cannot be effective unless it helps a child to open up himself to life.

I have studied the child. I have taken what the child has given me and expressed it and that is what is called the Montessori method.

Scientific observation then has established that education is not what the teacher gives; education is a natural process spontaneously carried out by the human individual, and is acquired not by listening to words but by experiences upon the environment.

A child's character develops in accordance with the obstacles he has encountered... or the freedom favoring his development that he has enjoyed.

Establishing lasting peace is the work of education; all politics can do is keep us out of war.

When the children had completed an absorbing bit of work, they appeared rested and deeply pleased. It almost seemed as if a road had opened up within their souls that led to all their latent powers, revealing the better part of themselves. They exhibited a great affability to everyone, put themselves out to help others and seemed full of good will.

Social grace, inner discipline and joy. These are the birthright of the human being who has been allowed to develop essential human qualities.

Only practical work and experience lead the young to maturity.

Discipline must come through liberty.

We must clearly understand that when we give the child freedom and independence, we are giving freedom to a worker already braced for action, who cannot live without working and being active.

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.

The child’s progress does not depend only on his age, but also on being free to look around him.

No social problem is as universal as the oppression of the child

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.

The child is an enigma… He has the highest potentialities, but we do not know what he will be.

Let us treat them [children], therefore, with all the kindness which we would wish to help to develop in them.

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.