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Quotes: Maria Montessori

Maria Montessori in 1913
The environment must be rich in motives which lend interest to
activity and invite the child to conduct his own experiences.
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The things he sees are not just remembered; they form a part of
his soul.
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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.
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It is the child who makes the man, and no man exists who was not made by the child
he once was.
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When dealing with children there is greater need for observing than of probing
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It is true that we cannot make a genius. We can only give to teach child the chance to
fulfil his potential possibilities.
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Little children, from the moment they are weaned, are making their way toward
independence.
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Never help a child with a task at which he feels he can succeed.
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The child is both a hope and a promise for mankind.
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Education is a natural process carried out by the child and is not acquired by
listening to words but by experiences in the environment.
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The first essential for the childs development is concentration. The child who
concentrates is immensely happy.
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Respect all the reasonable forms of activity in which the child engages and try to
understand them.
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Plainly, the environment must be a living one, directed by a higher intelligence,
arranged by an adult who is prepared for his mission.
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The hands are the instruments of mans intelligence.
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The human hand allows the minds to reveal itself.
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To assist a child we must provide him with an environment which will enable him to

develop freely.
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The childs progress does not depend only on his age, but also on being free to look
around him.
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Free choice is one of the highest of all the mental processes.
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Since it is through movement that the will realises itself, we should assist a child in
his attempts to put his will into act.
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Imitation is the first instinct of the awakening mind.
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These words reveal the childs inner needs; Help me to do it alone.
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No adult can bear a childs burden or grow up in his stead.
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Only through freedom and environmental experience is it practically possible for
human development to occur.
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The child builds his inmost self out of the deeply held impressions he receives.
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Growth is not merely a harmonious increase in size, but a transformation.
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The greatness of the human personality begins at the hour of birth.
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The prize and punishments are incentives toward unnatural or forced effort, and,
therefore we certainly cannot speak of the natural development of the child in
connection with them.
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Character formation cannot be taught. It comes from experience and not from
explanation.
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Growth comes from activity, not from intellectual understanding.
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He who is served is limited in his independence.
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The essential thing is to arouse such an interest that it engages the childs whole
personality.
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Education is a natural process carried out by the human individual, and is acquired
not by listening to words, but by experiences in the environment.
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Education should no longer be mostly imparting knowledge, but must take a new
path, seeking the release of human potentials.
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All our handling of the child will bear fruit, not only at the moment, but in the adult
they are destined to become.
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The child is an enigma He has the highest potentialities, but we do not know what
he will be.

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The activity of the child has always been looked upon as an expression of his
vitality.
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The study of love and its utilization will lead us to the source from which it springs,
The Child.
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It is not in human nature for all men to tread the same path of development, as
animals do of a single species.
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Watching a child makes it obvious that the development of his mind comes through
his movements.
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The childs parents are not his makers but his guardians.
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We must therefore turn to the child as to the key to the fate of our future life.
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The unknown energy that can help humanity is that which lies hidden in the child.
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The child should live in an environment of beauty.
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It is in the encounter of the maternal guiding instincts with the sensitive periods of
the newly born that conscious love develops between parent and child.
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