“If the idea of the universe is presented to the child in the right way, it will do more for him than just arouse his interest, for it will create in him admiration and wonder, a feeling loftier than any interest and more satisfying.”

“The essence of independence is to be able to do something for one’s self. Adults work to finish a task, but the child works in order to grow, and is working to create the adult, the person that is to be. Such experience is not just play... it is work he must do in order to grow up.”

“Life makes itself manifest, -life creates, life gives: -and is in its turn held within certain limits and bound by certain laws which are insuperable.” The Montessori Method, chapter 4

“Those things which we call encouragement, comfort, love, respect, are drawn from the soul of man, and the more freely we give of them, the more do we renew and reinvigorate the life about us.” The Montessori Method, chapter 2

Maria Montessori relates how a vision and prophecy of Ezekiel influenced her - “In fact, the words–‘I will cause breath to enter into you, and ye shall live,’ seem to me to refer to the direct individual work of the master who encourages, calls to, and helps his pupil, preparing him for education.”

“The child ... in his eagerness for knowledge, has revealed himself as a true son of that humanity which has been throughout centuries the creator of scientific and civil progress.”
The Montessori Method, chapter 22

“But if for the physical life it is necessary to have the child exposed to the vivifying forces of nature, it is also necessary for his psychical life to place the soul of the child in contact with creation.” source unknown

“The needs of mankind are universal. Our means of meeting them create the richness and diversity of the planet. The Montessori child should come to relish the texture of that diversity.” source unknown

“The child has other powers than ours, and the creation he achieves is no small one; it is everything.”

“Children become like the things they love.”

“Man is a sculptor of himself, urged by a mysterious inner force to the attainment of an ideal determined form.”

“Here is an essential principle of education: to teach details is to bring confusion; to establish the relationship between things is to bring knowledge.” from Childhood to Adolescence, p. 58.

“The child should not be regarded as a feeble and helpless creature whose only need is to be protected and helped, but as a spiritual embryo, possessed of an active psychic life from the day that he is born and guided by subtle instincts enabling him to actively build up the human personality. And since it is the child who becomes the adult man, we must consider him as the true builder of mankind.”