How can any one paint who cannot grade colors? How can any one write poetry who has not learnt to hear and see?
MARIA MONTESSORIHow can any one paint who cannot grade colors? How can any one write poetry who has not learnt to hear and see?
MARIA MONTESSORIIndeed there are powers in the small child that are far greater than is generally realized, because it is in this period that the construction, the building-up, of man takes place, for at birth, psychically speaking, there is nothing at all – zero!
MARIA MONTESSORIObservation, very general and wide-spread, has shown that small children are endowed with a special psychic nature. This shows us a new way of imparting education!
MARIA MONTESSORIThe maternal duty of suckling her own children, prescribed to mothers by hygienists, is based on a physiological principle: the mother’s milk nourishes an infant more perfectly than any other.
MARIA MONTESSORIOnce we have lived, the inner spark of vision does the rest.
MARIA MONTESSORIIt is surprising to notice that even from the earliest age, man finds the greatest satisfaction in feeling independent. The exalting feeling of being sufficient to oneself comes as a revelation.
MARIA MONTESSORIEducation is a work of self-organization by which man adapts himself to the conditions of life.
MARIA MONTESSORIMy system is to be considered a system leading up, in a general way, to education. It can be followed not only in the education of little children from three to six years of age, but can be extended to children up to ten years of age.
MARIA MONTESSORIWe cannot create observers by saying ‘observe’, but by giving them the power and the means for this observation and these means are procured through education of the senses.
MARIA MONTESSORIThere are two ‘faiths’ which can uphold humans: faith in God and faith in oneself. And these two faiths should exist side by side: the first belongs to one’s inner life, the second to one’s life in society.
MARIA MONTESSORIIf the ways of the Almighty are not humanly logical, it is not the fault of the Almighty but of the limitations of human logic.
MARIA MONTESSORIThe person who is developing freely and naturally arrives at a spiritual equilibrium in which he is master of his actions, just as one who has acquired physical poise can move freely.
MARIA MONTESSORIThe man of character is the persistent man, the man who is faithful to his own word, his own convictions, his own affections.
MARIA MONTESSORITo confer the gift of drawing, we must create an eye that sees, a hand that obeys, a soul that feels; and in this task, the whole life must cooperate. In this sense, life itself is the only preparation for drawing.
MARIA MONTESSORIThe greatest development is achieved during the first years of life, and therefore it is then that the greatest care should be taken. If this is done, then the child does not become a burden; he will reveal himself as the greatest marvel of nature.
MARIA MONTESSORINoble ideas, great sentiments have always existed and have always been transmitted, but wars have never ceased.
MARIA MONTESSORI