Maria Montessori Quotes

Above all, we must be conscious of the primary pedagogical task, namely that we must first make something of ourselves so that a living inner spiritual relationship exists between the teacher and the children.

Good teachers join self and subject and students in the fabric of life.

The truth is, when all is said and done, one does not teach a subject, one teaches a student how to learn it.

We're not trying to be the only route into teaching. We do put enormous energy into understanding what differentiates the most successful teachers.

I think the best teachers had a real interest in the subject they were teaching and a love for children.

I have learned that, although I am a good teacher, I am a much better student, and I was blessed to learn valuable lessons from my students on a daily basis. They taught me the importance of teaching to a student - and not to a test.

We begin with the hypothesis that any subject can be taught effectively in some intellectually honest form to any child at any stage of development.

If children had teachers for judgment and eloquence just as they have for languages, if their memory was exercised less than their energy or their natural genius, if instead of deadening their vivacity of mind we tried to elevate the free scope and impulse of their souls, what might not result from a fine disposition? As it is, we forget that courage, or love of truth and glory are the virtues that matter most in youth; and our one endeavour is to subdue our children's spirits, in order to teach them that dependence and suppleness are the first laws of success in life.

The teacher is of course an artist, but being an artist does not mean that he or she can make the profile, can shape the students. What the educator does in teaching is to make it possible for the students to become themselves.

While parents possess the original key to their offspring's experience, teachers have a spare key. They, too, can open or close the minds and hearts of children.

I believe that the teacher's place and work in the school is to be interpreted from this same basis. The teacher is not in the school to impose certain ideas or to form certain habits in the child, but is there as a member of the community to select the influences which shall affect the child and to assist him in properly responding to these influences.

You've got to accept the fact that you are basically not teaching a subject, you are teaching children

In the education of children there is nothing like alluring the interest and affection; otherwise you only make so many asses laden with books.

A good teacher does not get lost in the details, but points to what is essential so that the child or student can find meaning and joy in life.

The teacher, when she begins work in our schools, must have a kind of faith that the child will reveal himself through work.

How can the child learn to be a free and responsible citizen when the teacher is bound?

The most important thing about a child's education is to have a great teacher in front of the classroom and a lot of choice and accountability with parents.

The best teacher of children, in brief, is one who is essentially childlike.

If we hope to give our children a chance, it's time we start giving our teachers a chance.

It is necessary for the teacher to guide the child without letting him feel her presence too much, so that she may always be ready to supply the desired help, but may never be the obstacle between the child and his experience.

The education of even a small child, therefore, does not aim at preparing him for school, but for life.

One who has drunk at the fountain of spiritual happiness says good-by of his own accord to the satisfactions that come from a higher professional status ... What is the greatest sign of success for a teacher thus transformed? It is to be able to say, "The children are now working as if I did not exist.

To be a teacher does not mean simply to affirm that such a thing is so, or to deliver a lecture, etc.

We should seek to be fellow students with the pupil, and should learn of, as well as with him, if we would be most helpful to him.

Can't you see? Every step I have taken, since I was that child on the bridge, has been to bring myself closer to you.