"How shall one obtain discipline in a class of free children?...We call an individual disciplined when he is master of himself and can regulate his own conduct." Maria Montessori, The Montessori Method, p. 86, Schocken Books, Inc., 1964.
"The liberty of the child should have as its limit the collective interest..." Maria Montessori, The Montessori Method, p. 87, Schocken Books, Inc., 1964.
"The method of observation is established upon one fundamental base--the liberty of the pupils in their spontaneous manifestations." Maria Montessori, The Montessori Method, p.80, Schocken Books, Inc., 1964.
"The fundamental principle of scientific pedagogy must be, indeed, the liberty of the pupil..." Maria Montessori, The Montessori Method, p. 28, Schocken Books, 1964.
"Prizes and punishments are every-ready and efficient aids to the master who must force into a given attitude of mind and body those who are condemned to be his listeners." Maria Montessori, The Montessori Method, Chapter 1, p.21, Schocken Books, Inc., 1964.
"We know only too well the sorry spectacle of the teacher who, in the ordinary schoolroom, must pour certain cut and dried facts into the heads of scholars. In order to succeed in this barren task, she finds it necessary to discipline her pupils into immobility and to force their attention." Maria Montessori, The Montessori Method, Chapter 1, p.21, Schocken Books, Inc., 1964.
"The moral degradation of the slave is, above all things, the weight that opposes the progress of humanity-- humanity striving to rise and held back by this great burden. The cry of redemption speaks far more clearly for the souls of men than for their bodies." Maria Montessori, The Montessori Method, Chapter 1, p.20, Schocken Books, Inc., 1964.
"...desks are constructed in such a way as to render the child visible in all his immobility." Maria Montessori, The Montessori Method, Chapter 1, p.16, Schocken Books, Inc., 1964.
"The principle of slavery still pervades pedagogy, and therefore, the same principle pervades the school. I need only give one proof-- the stationary desks and chairs." Maria Montessori, The Montessori Method, Chapter 1, p.15-16, Schocken Books, Inc., 1964.
"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.