Quotessence
Home / Authors / Maria Montessori
Maria Montessori

Maria Montessori Quotes

Physician

Filter quotes by topic

AllChildrenMontessoriDevelopmentHelpingIfsTeacherHumansFirstsMenActivityEnvironmentShouldMindIndependentAdultsIndependenceNeedsDoeWorldEducation

Famous Maria Montessori Quotes

“This is education, understood as a help to life; an education from birth, which feeds a peaceful revolution and unites all in a common aim, attracting them as to a single centre. Mothers, fathers, politicians: all must combine in their respect and help for this delicate work of formation, which the little child carries on in the depth of a profound psychological mystery, under the tutelage of an inner guide. This is the bright new hope for mankind.”

ChildrenLittlesHelpingMotherFatherCommonMysteryMankindRevolutionBirthPoliticianUnderstoodAimProfoundDepthGuidesPsychologicalPeacefulCarrieDelicateCentreFormationMontessoriNew HopePeaceful RevolutionTutelage
Author:Maria Montessori
Create image

“Times have changed, and science has made great progress, and so has our work; but our principles have only been confirmed, and along with them our conviction that mankind can hope for a solution to its problems, among which the most urgent are those of peace and unity, only by turning its attention and energies to the discovery of the child and to the development of the great potentialities of the human personality in the course of its formation.”

HumansChildrenMadeProblemCoursesEnergyAttentionPrinciplesProgressMankindChangedPersonalityDevelopmentSolutionsDiscoveryUnityConvictionUrgentFormationMontessoriHuman PersonalityTimes Have ChangedGreat ProgressPeace And Unity
Author:Maria Montessori
Create image

“At one year of age the child says his first intentional wordhis babbling has a purpose, and this intention is a proof of conscious intelligenceHe becomes ever more aware that language refers to his surroundings, and his wish to master it consciously becomes also greater.Subconsciously and unaided, he strains himself to learn, and this effort makes his success all the more astonishing.”

YearsFirstsChildrenAgePurposeLanguageWishEffortGreaterMastersConsciousIntentionProofStrainSurroundingsAstonishingBabbling
Author:Maria Montessori
Create image

“We shall walk together on this path of life, for all things are a part of the universe, and are connected with each other to form one whole unity. This idea helps the mind of the child to become fixed, to stop wandering in an aimless quest for knowledge. He is satisfied, having found the universal centre of himself with all things.”

MindChildrenIdeasWholeHelpingTogetherFormUniverseFoundWalksPathAll ThingsUniversalUnityConnectedSatisfiedWanderFixedQuestsCentre
Book:To Educate the Human Potential
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

“The child is the spiritual builder of mankind, and obstacles to his free development are the stones in the wall by which the soul of man has become imprisoned.”

MenChildrenSoulSpiritualMankindWallDevelopmentStonesObstaclesBuilder
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

“A child is an eager observer and is particularly attracted by the actions of the adults and wants to imitate them. In this regard an adult can have a kind of mission. He can be an inspiration for the child's actions, a kind of open book wherein a child can learn how to direct his own movements. But an adult, if he is to afford proper guidance, must always be calm and act slowly so that the child who is watching him can clearly see his actions in all their particulars.”

IfsWantKindChildrenBookInspirationActionMovementAdultsDirectRegardCalmMissionsGuidanceObserversOpen Book
Author:Maria Montessori
Create image

“Supposing I said there was a planet without schools or teachers, where study was unknown, and yet the inhabitants -- doing nothing but live and walk about -- came to know all things, to carry in their minds the whole of learning; would you not think I was romancing? Well, just this, which seems so fanciful as to be nothing but the invention of a fertile imagination, is a reality. It is the child's way of learning.”

ThinkingKnowsWayMindWellsChildrenSaidWholeRealitySeemsSchoolImaginationWalksStudyTeacherPlanetsAll ThingsInventionDoing NothingFertileSupposing
Author:Maria Montessori
Create image

“But if for the physical life it is necessary to have the child exposed to the vivifying forces of nature, it is also necessary for his psychical life to place the soul of the child in contact with creation.”

IfsChildrenSoulForceCreationContactExposedForces Of Nature
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

“This system in which a child is constantly moving objects with his hands and actively exercising his senses, also takes into account a child's special aptitude for mathematics. When they leave the material, the children very easily reach the point where they wish to write out the operation. They can thus carryout an abstract mental operation and acquire a kind of natural and spontaneous inclination for mental calculations.”

WritingKindChildrenHandsMovingWishNaturalSpecialObjectsMaterialsExerciseAccountsMathematicsSensesOperationsAbstractAcquireSpontaneousInclinationCalculationsAptitudeConstantly Moving
Author:Maria Montessori
Create image