467 Quotes by Maria Montessori

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.

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.

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

Children must grow not only in the body but in the spirit, and the mother longs to follow the mysterious spiritual journey of the beloved one who to-morrow will be the intelligent, divine creation, man.

Never help a child with a task that they feel they can complete themselves.

Respect all the reasonable forms of activity in which the child engages and try to understand them.

There can be no substitute for work, neither affection nor physical well-being can replace it.

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.

The essential thing is to arouse such an interest that it engages the child’s whole personality.