Vermont tradition is based on the idea that group life should leave each person as free as possible to arrange his own life. This freedom is the only climate in which (we feel) a human being may create his own happiness. ... Character itself lies deep and secret below the surface, unknown and unknowable by others. It is the mysterious core of life, which every man or woman has to cope with alone, to live with, to conquer and put in order, or to be defeated by.

One of the many things nobody ever tells you about middle age is that it's such a nice change from being young.

Compared with more emotional types, Vermonters seem to have few passions. But those they have are great and burning. The greatest is their conviction that without freedom human life is not worth living.

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

Taking somebody's sacrifices is like taking counterfeit money. You're only the poorer.

What a fearfully distracting, perplexing and heart-searching business it is to live.

History is worth reading when it tells us truly what the attitude toward life was in the past.