This is the treasure we need today - helping the child become independent of us and make his way by himself, receiving in return his gifts of hope and light.

A great deal of time and intellectual force are lost in the world, because the false seems great and the truth so small and insignificant.

The ancient saying, "There is nothing in the intellect which was not first in some way in the senses," and senses being explorers of the world, opens the way to knowledge.

We must support as much as possible the child's desires for activity; not wait on him, but educate him to be independent.

The child seeks for independence by means of work; an independence of body and mind.

The task of the educator lies in seeing that the child does not confound good with immobility, and evil with activity, as often happens in old-time discipline . . . A room in which all the children move about usefully, intelligently, and voluntarily, without committing any rough or rude act, would seem to me a classroom very well disciplined indeed.

Joy, feeling one’s own value, being appreciated and loved by others, feeling useful and capable of production are all factors of enormous value for the human soul.