World full of Miracles

"What we need is a world full of miracles, like the miracle of seeing the young child seeking work and independence, and manifesting a wealth of enthusiasm and love."
- Peace and Education, p. 51

Love for Order and Work

"Above all it is to be noted that the child has a passionate love for order and work, and possesses intellectual qualities superior by far to what might have been expected."
- Peace and Education, p. 38

Independent Life of Child

When the independent life of the child is not recognized with its own characteristics and its own ends, when the adult man interprets these characteristics and ends, which are different from his, as being errors in the child which he must make speed to correct, there arises between the strong and the weak a struggle which is fatal to mankind.
-Peace and Education, p. 36

Follow the Child Quotes

"So, whether we go to the origins of human life, or follow the child in his work o growth, we always find the the adult not far away." The Absorbent Mind, p. 30 First Owls Edition 1995

"The adult has a mission to fulfil which has been so complicated and intensified that he finds it ever harder to suspend it as he must do if he is to follow the child, adapting himself to the child's rhythm and the psychological needs of..." The Secret of Childhood (per Google, 1983 reprint P. 239- but my edition doesn't have that many pages!)

"But the child does not want to get anywhere; he just want to walk, and to help him truly the adult must follow the child, and not expect him to keep up. The need for following the child is clearly demonstrated here, but indeed it is..." Education for a New world, 1946, p. 89

Education of the senses

"We may conclude with a general rule for the direction of the education of the senses. The order of procedure should be:
(1) Recognition of identities (the pairing of similar objects and the insertion of solid forms into places which fit them).
(2) Recognition of contrasts (the presentation of the extremes of a series of objects).
(3) Discrimination between objects very similar to one another.
- Dr. Montessori's Own Handbook, P. 110

Repetition and perfection

"As the aim of the exercise, however, is not that the rods be arranged in the right order of gradation, but that the child should practise by himself, there is no need to intervene."
- Dr. Montessori's Own Handbook, P. 76

Orderly Environment

"We like to live in an orderly environment because it ministers to a sense of comfort in us, and aids our efficiency."

- Maria Montessori: Her Life and Work by E. M. Standing, P. 125