Quotessence
Home / Authors / Maria Montessori
Maria Montessori

Maria Montessori Quotes

Physician

Filter quotes by topic

AllChildrenMontessoriDevelopmentHelpingIfsTeacherHumansFirstsMenActivityEnvironmentShouldMindIndependentAdultsIndependenceNeedsDoeWorldEducation

Famous Maria Montessori Quotes

“A child in his earliest years, when he is only two or a little more, is capable of tremendous achievements simply through his unconscious power of absorption, though he is himself still immobile. After the age of three he is able to acquire a great number of concepts through his own efforts in exploring his surroundings. In this period he lays hold of things through his own activity and assimilates them into his mind.”

YearsMindChildrenLittlesStillsTwoAgeAbleThreeNumbersEffortPeriodsActivityAchievementCapableConceptsLaysAcquireUnconsciousExploringSurroundingsAbsorption
Author:Maria Montessori
Create image

“The task of the educator lies in seeing that the child does not confound good with immobility, and evil with activity, as often happens in old-time discipline . . . A room in which all the children move about usefully, intelligently, and voluntarily, without committing any rough or rude act, would seem to me a classroom very well disciplined indeed.”

WellsChildrenDoeSeemsHappensMovingLyingEvilRoomsSeeingDisciplineActivityTasksRoughClassroomRudeEducatorOld Time
Book:The Montessori Method: Scientific Pedagogy as Applied to Child Education in the Children's Houses with Additions and Revisions
Create image

“The task of the educator lies in seeing that the child does not confound good with immobility and evil with activity.”

ChildrenDoeLyingEvilSeeingActivityTasksEducatorMontessoriGood Against Evil
Book:The Montessori Method: The Origins of an Educational Innovation : Including an Abridged and Annotated Edition of Maria Montessori's The Montessori Method
Create image

“Growth and psychic development are therefore guided by: the absorbent mind, the nebulae and the sensitive periods, with their respective mechanisms. It is these that are hereditary and characteristic of the human species. But the promise they hold can only be fulfilled through the experience of free activity conducted in the environment.”

MindHumansGrowthEnvironmentDevelopmentPeriodsPromiseActivityIndependentSpeciesSensitiveCharacteristicsMechanismFulfilledPsychicsHuman SpeciesHereditary
Author:Maria Montessori
Create image

“When mental development is under discussion, there are many who say, 'How does movement come into it? We are talking about the mind.' And when we think of intellectual activity, we always imagine people sitting still, motionless. But mental development must be connected with movement and be dependent on it. It is vital that educational theory and practice should be informed by that idea.”

PeopleThinkingShouldMindDoeStillsIdeasTalkingPracticeImagineMovementTheoryDevelopmentActivityIntellectualSittingEducationalConnectedDiscussionDependentTheory And PracticeSitting Still
Author:Maria Montessori
Create image

“Praise, help, or even a look, may be enough to interrupt him, or destroy the activity. It seems a strange thing to say, but this can happen even if the child merely becomes aware of being watched. After all, we too sometimes feel unable to go on working if someone comes to see what we are doing. The great principle which brings success to the teacher is this: as soon as concentration has begun, act as if the child does not exist. Naturally, one can see what he is doing with a quick glance, but without his being aware of it.”

IfsFeelsLooksMayChildrenDoeSometimesEnoughHelpingSeemsHappensPrinciplesTeacherStrangeGoes OnActivityPraiseConcentrationGlancesStrange Things
Author:Maria Montessori
Create image

“No one can be free unless he is independent. Therefore, the first active manifestations of the child's individual liberty must be so guided that through this activity he may arrive at independence.”

FirstsMayChildrenIndividualLibertyActivityIndependentIndependenceActiveManifestationIndividual LibertyPractical Life
Book:The Montessori Method: The Origins of an Educational Innovation : Including an Abridged and Annotated Edition of Maria Montessori's The Montessori Method
Create image

“...we discovered that education is not something which the teacher does, but that it is a natural process which develops spontaneously in the human being. It is not acquired by listening to words, but in virtue of experiences in which the child acts on his environment. The teacher's task is not to talk, but to prepare and arrange a series of motives for cultural activity in a special environment made for the child.”

HumansChildrenDoeMadeProcessNaturalHuman BeingsVirtueEnvironmentTeacherSpecialListeningActivityTasksExperienceSeriesMotiveMontessori
Author:Maria Montessori
Create image