Jean Piaget

The practice of narrative and argument does not lead to invention, but it compels a certain coherence of thought.

During the first few months of an infant's life, its manner of taking the breast, of laying its head on the pillow, etc., becomes crystallized into imperative habits. This is why education must begin in the cradle.

During the earliest stages the child perceives things like a solipsist who is unaware of himself as subject and is familiar only with his own actions.

The self thus becomes aware of itself, at least in its practical action, and discovers itself as a cause among other causes and as an object subject to the same laws as other objects.

Reflective abstraction, however, is based not on individual actions but on coordinated actions.

Childish egocentrism is, in its essence, an inability to differentiate between the ego and the social environment.

Before playing with his equals, the child is influenced by his parents. He is subjected from his cradle to a multiplicity of regulations, and even before language he becomes conscious of certain obligations.

Play is the work of childhood.

From the moral as from the intellectual point of view, the child is born neither good nor bad but master of his destiny.

The child often sees only what he already knows. He projects the whole of his verbal thought into things. He sees mountains as built by men, rivers as dug out with spades, the sun and moon as following us on our walks.

One of the most striking things one finds about the child under 7-8 is his extreme assurance on all subjects.

In other words, knowledge of the external world begins with an immediate utilisation of things, whereas knowledge of self is stopped by this purely practical and utilitarian contact.