“Within the child lies the fate of the future.”
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Quotes from Maria Montessori in the episode
“Within the child lies the fate of the future.” The Secret of Childhood
“Establishing a lasting peace is the work of education; all politics can do is keep us out of war.” Education and Peace
“It is the adult who produces in the child his incapacities, his confusion, his rebellion; it is the adult who shatters the character of the child and deprives it of its vital impulses. And more than that, it is the adult who affects to correct the errors, the psychological deviation, the lapses of character that he himself has produced in the child. So we find ourselves in a labyrinth without an exit, in the presence of a failure without hope. Until the adults consciously face their errors and correct them, they will find themselves in a forest of insoluble labyrinths. And children, becoming in their turn adults, will be victims of the same error, which they will transmit from generation to generation.” The Child in the Family
“The child brings us light amid the shadows that surround us.” Education and Peace
“There is an anecdote of a king who wished to reform his kingdom. He sent for his counsellors, and one wiser than the others said, ‘First you must reform yourselves, you and your court.’ … It is a question of reforming the reformers: we all need to be changed.” Maria Montessori Speaks to Parents
“Our social mentality has not grasped the idea that we can receive help from the child, that the child can give us a light and a lesson, a new vision and a solution for inextricable problems.” The Formation of Man
“Everybody speaks about the reform of society, but it is man himself who needs to change — something which we are starting to realize: the reform of man through the child.” 20th International Teacher Training Course*
"The child can change the hearts of men; in the midst of children their hardness disappears.” The Child in the Church
“The real danger threatening humanity is the emptiness in men’s souls; all the rest is merely a consequence of this emptiness. … Man, the creature who flies through the heavens, who captures the music of the spheres, who is possessed of a power bordering on omnipotence, complains of being weak, ineffectual, and unhappy. … Education is enormously important today, because man possesses much more than he knows and much more than he can enjoy. He has everything! He must learn to appreciate what he has, to enjoy what he already possesses.” Education and Peace
You can find the works listed above at Montessori-Pierson, Maria Montessori’s family publisher.
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Photo: plasticine labyrinth, flickr