"...intervention, however, is almost always found to be unnecessary, for the children see their companions at work and thus are encouraged to imitate them." Maria Montessori, Dr. Montessori's Own Handbook, Schocken Books, 1965, p. 69.
"The 'Children's House' is the environment which is offered to the child that he may be given the opportunity of developing his activities. This kind of school is not of a fixed type, but may vary according to the financial resources at disposal and to the opportunities afforded by the environment." Maria Montessori, Dr. Montessori's Own Handbook, Schocken Books, 1965, p. 37.
"The fundamental principle of scientific pedagogy must be, indeed, the liberty of the pupil..." Maria Montessori, The Montessori Method, p. 28, Schocken Books, 1964.
"Today we hold the pupils in school, restricted by those instruments so degrading to body and spirit, the desk-- and material prizes and punishments. Our aim in all this is to reduce them to the discipline of immobility and silence,-- to lead them, --where? Far too often toward no definite end." Maria Montessori, p. 26, The Montessori Method, Schocken Books, 1964.