Maria Montessori Quotes about Children

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

The education of even a small child, therefore, does not aim at preparing him for school, but for life.

Let the children be free; encourage them; let them run outside when it is raining; let them remove their shoes when they find a puddle of water; and when the grass of the meadows is wet with dew, let them run on it and trample it with their bare feet; let them rest peacefully when a tree invites them to sleep beneath its shade; let them shout and laugh when the sun wakes them in the morning.

There is a great sense of community within the Montessori classroom, where children of differing ages work together in an atmosphere of cooperation rather than competitiveness. There is respect for the environment and for the individuals within it, which comes through experience of freedom within the community.

To assist a child we must provide him with an environment which will enable him to develop freely.

The most important period of life is not the age of university studies, but the first one, the period from birth to the age of six.

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.

Free the child's potential, and you will transform him into the world.

The essence of independence is to be able to do something for one’s self. Adults work to finish a task, but the child works in order to grow, and is working to create the adult, the person that is to be. Such experience is not just play... it is work he must do in order to grow up.

Our aim is not merely to make the child understand, and still less to force him to memorize, but so to touch his imagination as to enthuse him to his innermost core.

Peace is what every human being is craving for, and it can be brought about by humanity through the child.

This is the treasure we need today - helping the child become independent of us and make his way by himself, receiving in return his gifts of hope and light.

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

The child has a mind able to absorb knowledge. He has the power to teach himself.

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

Never help a child with a task at which he feels he can succeed.

We are the sowers - our children are those who reap. We labor so that future generations will be better and nobler than we are.

Play is the work of the child.

When children come into contact with nature, they reveal their strength.

Whoever touches the life of the child touches the most sensitive point of a whole which has roots in the most distant past and climbs toward the infinite future.

The child is both a hope and a promise for mankind.

The child is truly a miraculous being, and this should be felt deeply by the educator.

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.

The land is where our roots are. The children must be taught to feel and live in harmony with the Earth.

As soon as children find something that interests them they lose their instability and learn to concentrate.