Montessori Quotes

"It is true that some pedagogues, led by Rousseau, have given voice to impracticable principles and vague aspirations for the liberty of the child, but the true concept of liberty is practically unknown to educators."  Maria Montessori, The Montessori Method, Chapter 1, p.15, Schocken Books, Inc., 1964.

"It is not enough, then, to prepare in our Masters the scientific spirit.  We must also make ready the school for their observation.  The school must permit free, natural manifestations of the child if in the school scientific pedagogy is to be born. This is the essential reform."  Maria Montessori, The Montessori Method, Chapter 1, p.15, Schocken Books, Inc., 1964.

"But let us seek to implant in the soul the self-sacrificing spirit of the scientist with the reverent love of the disciple of Christ, and we shall have prepared the spirit of the teacher.  From the child itself will he learn how to perfect himself as an educator." Maria Montessori, The Montessori Method, Chapter 1, p.13, Schocken Books, Inc., 1964.

"The interest in humanity to which we wish to educate the teacher must be characterized by the intimate relationship between the observer and the individual to be observed..."  Maria Montessori, The Montessori Method, Chapter 1, p.12, Schocken Books, Inc., 1964.

"The master is to study man in the awakening of his intellectual life."  Maria Montessori, The Montessori Method, Chapter 1, p.12, Schocken Books, Inc., 1964.

"...we wish to awaken in the mind and heart of the educator an interest in natural phenomena to such an extent that, loving nature, he shall understand the anxious and expectant attitude of one who has prepared an experiment and who awaits a revelation from it."  Maria Montessori, The Montessori Method, Chapter 1, p.9, Schocken Books, Inc., 1964.

"It is my belief that the thing which we should cultivate in our teachers is more the spirit than the mechanical skill of the scientist; that is, the direction of the preparation should be toward the spirit rather than toward the mechanism."  Maria Montessori, The Montessori Method, Chapter 1, p.9, Schocken Books, Inc., 1964.