We imagine that we want to escape our selfish and commonplace existence, but we cling desperately to our chains.

We are afraid of ideas, of experimenting, of change. We shrink from thinking a problem through to a logical conclusion.

Certain periods in history suddenly lift humanity to an observation point where a clear light falls upon a world previously dark.

Children require guidance and sympathy far more than instruction.

If the child is left to himself, he will think more and better, if less showily. Let him go and come freely, let him touch real things and combine his impressions for himself.

We all make mistakes, as the hedgehog said as he climbed off the scrubbing brush

Language grows out of life, out of its needs and experiences...Language and knowledge are indissolubly connected; they are interdependent. Good work in language presupposes and depends on a real knowledge of things.