Never help a child with a task that they feel they can complete themselves.

The real preparation for education is a study of one's self. The training of the teacher...is something far more than a learning of ideas. It includes the training of character; it is a preparation of the spirit.

The adult works to improve his environment while the child works to improve himself.

The greatest triumph of our educational method should always be this: to bring about the spontaneous progress of the child.

It is almost possible to say that there is a mathematical relationship between the beauty of his surroundings and the activity of the child; he will make discoveries rather more voluntarily in a gracious setting than in an ugly one.

in nature everything is transformed but nothing destroyed.

With younger children the greatest reward is to be able to pass on to a new stage in each subject. It is a punishment to a young child not to be allowed to use the apparatus but to sit still and do nothing.