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Maria Montessori

Maria Montessori Quotes

Physician

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Famous Maria Montessori Quotes

“Freedom without organization of work would be useless. The child left free without means of work would go to waste, just as a new-born baby, if left free without nourishment, would die of starvation.The organization of the work, therefore, is the cornerstone of this new structure of goodness [in education], but even that organization would be in vain without the liberty to make use of it.”

IfsMeanChildrenUseWould BeDiesLeftBornLibertyBabyGoodnessWasteOrganizationStructureUselessVainStarvationNourishmentCornerstones
Book:Montessori's Own Handbook
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“Adults look upon a child as something empty that is to be filled through their own efforts, as something inert and helpless for which they must do everything, as something lacking an inner guide and in constant need of inner direction. . . . An adult who acts in this way, even though he may be convinced that he is filled with zeal, love, and a spirit of sacrifice on behalf of his child, unconsciously suppresses the development of the child's own personality.”

WayNeedsLooksMayChildrenSpiritEffortSacrificePersonalityDevelopmentAdultsEmptyFilledConstantGuidesConvincedLook UpHelplessLackingBehalfZeal
Author:Maria Montessori
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“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.”

IfsChildrenSoulHelpingBitsHelping OthersRevealingGood WillAbsorbingLatent
Book:The child in the family
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“The great constructive energies of the child ... have hitherto been concealed beneath an accumulation of ideas concerning motherhood. We used to say it was the mother who formed the child; for it is she who teaches him to walk, talk, and so on. But none of this is really done by the mother. It is an achievement of the child. What the mother brings forth is the baby, but it is the baby who produces the man. Should the mother die, the baby still grows up and completes his work of making the man.”

MenShouldChildrenStillsIdeasDoneUsedMotherDiesEnergyGrowsGrowthWalksTeachGrowing UpProduceHe ManBabyAchievementMotherhoodConstructiveAccumulationConcealed
Author:Maria Montessori
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“The child's true constructive energy, a dynamic power, has remained unnoticed for thousands of years. Just as men have trodden the earth, and later tilled its surface, without thought for the immense wealth hidden in its depths, so the men of our day make progress after progress in civilized life, without noticing the treasures that lie hidden in the psychic world of infancy.”

MenWorldYearsChildrenEarthLyingEnergyWealthProgressHe ManDepthSurfaceTreasureCivilizedImmensePsychicsConstructiveNoticingInfancyUnnoticed
Author:Maria Montessori
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“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.”

IfsWorldChildrenSpiritualValuesGrowthEnvironmentPersonalityCharacteristicsRevelationsSpiritual GrowthAstonishingBettermentIntrinsic Value
Book:Peaceful Children, Peaceful World: The Challenge of Maria Montessori
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“Children have an anxious concern for living beings, and the satisfaction of this instinct fills them with delight. It is therefore easy to interest them in taking care of plants and especially of animals. Nothing awakens foresight in a small child such as this. When he knows that animals have need of him, that little plants will dry up if he does not water them, he binds together with a new thread of love today's passing moments with those of the morrow.”

IfsKnowsNeedsChildrenLittlesDoeMomentsCareTodayTogetherEasyInterestWaterAnimalConcernPlantInstinctSatisfactionDelightPassingPassingsDryAnxiousThreadForesightMorrowSmall ChildDry UpPassing Moments
Author:Maria Montessori
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“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
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“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
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“Red RodsBefore elaborating any system of education, we must therefore create a favorable environment that will encourage the flowering of a child's natural gifts. All that is needed is to remove the obstacles. And this should be the basis of, and point of departure for, all future education. The first thing to be done, therefore, is to discover the true nature of a child and then assist him in his normal development.”

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Author:Maria Montessori
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“The laws governing the universe can be made interesting and wonderful to the child, more interesting even that things in themselves, and he begins to ask: What am I? What is the task of man in this wonderful universe? Do we merely live here for ourselves, or is there something more for us to do? Why do we struggle and fight? What is good and evil? Where will it all end?”

MenChildrenMadeEndsLawFightingUniverseEvilAsksInterestingStruggleWonderfulTasksGood And EvilGoverning
Book:To Educate the Human Potential
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“How can we speak of Democracy or Freedom when from the very beginning of life we mould the child to undergo tyranny, to obey a dictator? How can we expect democracy when we have reared slaves? Real freedom begins at the beginning of life, not at the adult stage. These people who have been diminished in their powers, made short-sighted, devitalized by mental fatigue, whose bodies have become distorted, whose wills have been broken by elders who say: "your will must disappear and mine prevail!"-how can we expect them, when school-life is finished, to accept and use the rights of freedom?”

PeopleChildrenHas BeensMadeRealUseBodySchoolLife IsSpeakAcceptingDemocracyRightsStageMinesBrokenAdultsSlaveFinishedDisappearTyrannyDictatorEldersFatigueMouldSchool LifeShort SightedReal FreedomBeginning Of Life
Author:Maria Montessori
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“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."”

IfsLifeInspirationalChildrenAbleSuccessEducationTeachLearningTeacherTeachingDiversityEducationalTortureGreat TeacherGood TeacherBest TeacherTeaching ChildrenGreat EducationTeaching And LearningEarly ChildhoodEducation And TeachersGreat EducationalTeaching And EducationMontessoriTeachers And TeachingTeacher StudentChildren LearningInspirational TeacherTeacher And StudentInspirational EducationGreat TeachingBeing A TeacherGood TeachingChildren EducationStudents And EducationLearning By DoingGood StudentsStudent LearningParents And TeachersChildren And EducationInspirational EducationalEducation And LiteracyInspiring EducationTeaching StudentsTeachers Learning From StudentsEarly Childhood EducationEducating OthersInspirational StudentTeaching ArtInspiring EducationalRetired TeacherRetiring TeachersTeacher Appreciation DayLove TeachingEducation TodayTeacher RetirementWorking With Children
Author:Maria Montessori
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“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
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