It is not in human nature for all men to tread the same path of development, as animals do of a single species.

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.

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

This then is the first duty of an educator: to stir up life but leave it free to develop.

The teacher's task is not to talk, but to prepare and arrange a series of motives for cultural activity in a special environment made for the child.

The exercises of practical life are formative activities, a work of adaptation to the environment. Such adaptation to the environment and efficient functioning therein is the very essence of a useful education.

Conventions which camouflage a man's true feelings are a spiritual lie which help him adapt himself to the organized deviations of society.