Except when he has regressive tendencies, the child's nature is to aim directly and energetically at functional independence.

Education cannot be effective unless it helps a child to open up himself to life.

The instructions of the teacher consist then merely in a hint, a touch-enough to give a start to the child. The rest develops of itself.

At about a year and a half, the child discovers another fact, and that is that each thing has its own name.

To let the child do as he likes when he has not yet developed any powers of control is to betray the idea of freedom.

An education capable of saving humanity is no small undertaking; it involves the spiritual development of man, the enhancement of his value as an individual, and the preparation of young people to understand the times in which they live.

A child in his earliest years, when he is only two or a little more, is capable of tremendous achievements simply through his unconscious power of absorption, though he is himself still immobile. After the age of three he is able to acquire a great number of concepts through his own efforts in exploring his surroundings. In this period he lays hold of things through his own activity and assimilates them into his mind.