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

Some people think that doctors and nurses can put scrambled eggs back into the shell.

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

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

You can't wish a body any worse luck than to get what he wants.

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.

don't let anything make you believe that there are not as many decent men in the world as women, and they're just as decent. Life isn't worth living unless you know that - and it's true.