there's no such thing as luck. Nothing ever just happens to anybody. ... nothing can really happen to a person till he lets it happen.

What's the use of inventing a better system as long as there just aren't enough folks with sense to go around?

There is no human relationship more intimate than that of nurse and patient, one in which the essentials of character are more rawly revealed.

the encounter with death is the great turning-point in the lives of those who live on.

Vermont is the only place in America where I ever hear thrift spoken of with respect.

Father sticks to it that anything that promises to pay too much can't help being risky.

perhaps all this modern ferment of what's known as 'social conscience' or 'civic responsibility' isn't a result of the sense of duty, but of the old, old craving for beauty.