The 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 Montessori
The purpose of life is to obey the hidden command which ensures harmony among all and creates an ever better world. We are not created only to enjoy the world, we are created in order to evolve the cosmos. – Maria Montessori
Moral Education is the source of that spiritual equilibrium on which everything else depends and which may be compared to that physical equilibrium or sense of balance, without which it is impossible to stand upright or to move into any other position. – Maria Montessori
Woman was always the custodian of human sentiment, morality and honour, and in these respects, man always has yielded woman the palm. – Maria Montessori
We all know the sense of comfort of which we are conscious when a good half of the floor space in a room is unencumbered; this seems to offer us the agreeable possibility of moving about freely. – Maria Montessori
When the child begins to think and to make use of the written language to express his rudimentary thinking, he is ready for elementary work; and this fitness is a question not of age or other incidental circumstance but of mental maturity. – Maria Montessori
Every one in the world ought to do the things for which he is specially adapted. It is the part of wisdom to recognize what each one of us is best fitted for, and it is the part of education to perfect and utilize such predispositions. Because education can direct and aid nature but can never transform her. – Maria Montessori
All work is noble; the only ignoble thing is to live without working. There is need to realize the value of work in all its forms whether manual or intellectual, to be called ‘mate,’ to have sympathetic understanding of all forms of activity. – Maria Montessori
Now, what really makes a teacher is love for the human child; for it is love that transforms the social duty of the educator into the higher consciousness of a mission. – Maria Montessori
The social relations which are the basis of the reproduction of the species are founded upon the continuous union of parents in marriage. – Maria Montessori
We recommend for the training of teachers not only a considerable artistic education in general but special attention to the art of reading. – Maria Montessori
Establishing lasting peace is the work of education; all politics can do is keep us out of war. – Maria Montessori
The adolescent must never be treated as a child, for that is a stage of life that he has surpassed. It is better to treat an adolescent as if he had greater value than he actually shows than as if he had less and let him feel that his merits and self-respect are disregarded. – Maria Montessori
At three years of age, the child has already laid the foundations of the human personality and needs the special help of education in the school. The acquisitions he has made are such that we can say the child who enters school at three is an old man. – Maria Montessori
How can any one paint who cannot grade colors? How can any one write poetry who has not learnt to hear and see? – Maria Montessori
The 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 Montessori
If intelligence is the triumph of life, the spoken word is the marvellous means by which this intelligence is manifested. – Maria Montessori
