The greatest sign of success for a teacher… is to be able to say, The children are now working as if I did not exist. – Maria Montessori
We 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 Montessori
If education is always to be conceived along the same antiquated lines of a mere transmission of knowledge, there is little to be hoped from it in the bettering of mans future. For what is the use of transmitting knowledge if the individuals total development lags behind? – Maria Montessori
The teacher must derive not only the capacity, but the desire, to observe natural phenomena. The teacher must understand and feel her position of observer: the activity must lie in the phenomenon. – Maria Montessori
The only language men ever speak perfectly is the one they learn in babyhood, when no one can teach them anything! – Maria Montessori
One test of the correctness of educational procedure is the happiness of the child. – Maria Montessori
We discovered that education is not something which the teacher does, but that it is a natural process which develops spontaneously in the human being. – Maria Montessori
Establishing lasting peace is the work of education all politics can do is keep us out of war. – Maria Montessori
We especially need imagination in science. It is not all mathematics, nor all logic, but it is somewhat beauty and poetry. – Maria Montessori
The first idea that the child must acquire, in order to be actively disciplined, is that of the difference between good and evil; and the task of the educator lies in seeing that the child does not confound good with immobility and evil with activity. – Maria Montessori
