"The 'power of concentration shown by little children from three to four years old has no counterpart save in the annals of genius"

"Montessori believed than children were born for gran lavoro -- 'immense work.' She wrote that the 'power of concentration shown by little children from three to four years old has no counterpart save in the annals of genius.'
    "The purpose of education [she said] is to provide them with an environment in which they were free to work without interference from adults. This is far more satisfying for children than 'play devoid of meaning.' When they are tired, it was [often] because they had worked too little rather than too much. One of her principles is that 'mental work does not exhaust; it gives nourishment, it is food for our spirit'."

~ Bee Wilson, reviewing Christina de Stefano's 2022 book The Child is the Teacher: A Life of Maria Montessori [tenses changed]