All human victories, all human progress, stand upon the inner force.

Since it is through movement that the will realises itself, we should assist a child in his attempts to put his will into act.

...we discovered that education is not something which the teacher does, but that it is a natural process which develops spontaneously in the human being. It is not acquired by listening to words, but in virtue of experiences in which the child acts on his environment. 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.

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.

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

An educational method that shall have liberty as its basis must intervene to help the child to a conquest of liberty. That is to say, his training must be such as shall help him to diminish as much as possible the social bonds which limit his activity.

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.