To stimulate life, leaving it then free to develop, to unfold, herein lies the first task of the teacher.

If an educational act is to be efficacious, it will be only that one which tends to help toward the complete unfolding of life. To be thus helpful it is necessary rigorously to avoid the arrest of spontaneous movements and the imposition of arbitrary tasks.

I have studied the child. I have taken what the child has given me and expressed it and that is what is called the Montessori method.

Discipline must come through liberty.

The observation of the way in which the children pass from the first disordered movements to those which are spontaneous and ordered -- this is the book of the teacher; this is the book which must inspire her actions . . .

Sometimes very small children in a proper environment develop a skill and exactness in their work that can only surprise us.

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