--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Vermont tradition is based on the idea…" description: "\"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 c..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/dc8/dorothy-canfield-fisher-13429_below-the-surface_vermont-tradition-is-based-on-the-idea-t_1246573.jpg" --- # Vermont tradition is based on the idea that group life… ![“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…” quote by Dorothy Canfield Fisher](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/dc8/dorothy-canfield-fisher-13429_below-the-surface_vermont-tradition-is-based-on-the-idea-t_1246573.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/dc8/dorothy-canfield-fisher-13429_below-the-surface_vermont-tradition-is-based-on-the-idea-t_1246573.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/dc8/dorothy-canfield-fisher-13429_below-the-surface_vermont-tradition-is-based-on-the-idea-t_1246573.jpg) > “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.” [Dorothy Canfield Fisher](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dorothy-canfield-fisher/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. True liberty comes from self‑determination; happiness arises when individuals freely shape their own lives. **In simple terms:** Freedom lets people create happiness. Key Takeaway Cultivate personal autonomy. Themes freedom individualism self‑discovery happiness responsibility Mood reflective inspired Type philosophical motivational When to use this quote - personal goal setting - career planning - creative projects - relationship building Key Concepts existentialism humanism psychology Questions to Reflect On - How do you balance personal freedom with community responsibilities? - What aspects of your life feel most self‑directed? A Different Perspective True freedom may clash with social obligations and collective needs. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Below the surface](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/below-the-surface/) [Character](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/character/) [Climate](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/climate/) [Freedom](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/freedom/) [Human beings](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/human-beings/) [Humans](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/humans/) [Ideas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ideas/) [Life](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/life/) [Lying](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/lying/) [Men](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/men/) [Mysterious](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/mysterious/) [Order](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/order/) [Secret](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/secret/) [Tradition](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/tradition/) [Vermont](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/vermont/) ## Related quotes > [Culinary tradition is not always based on fact. Sometimes it's based on history, on habits that come out of a time when kitchens were…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alton-brown/culinary-tradition-is-not-always-based-on-fact-sometimes-it-s-based/) [Alton Brown](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alton-brown/) > [another tradition to politics, a tradition (of politics) that stretched from the days of the country’s founding to the glory of the civil rights…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/barack-obama/another-tradition-to-politics-a-tradition-of-politics-that-stretched/) [Barack Obama](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/barack-obama/) > [“Their attitude toward another aspect of organization shows the same bias. What of the "group life", the loss of individualism? Once upon a time…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-h-whyte/their-attitude-toward-another-aspect-of-organization-shows-the-same/) [William H. Whyte](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-h-whyte/) > [“One realizes that even in harmonious families there is this double life: the group life, which is the one we can observe in our…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/willa-cather/one-realizes-that-even-in-harmonious-families-there-is-this-double/) [Willa Cather](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/willa-cather/) > [I'm trying to arrange my life so I don't have to be present.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/woody-allen/i-m-trying-to-arrange-my-life-so-i-don-t-have-to-be-present/) [Woody Allen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/woody-allen/) > [You appreciate that it is very easy to die and you have to arrange your life to cope with that reality.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/niki-lauda/you-appreciate-that-it-is-very-easy-to-die-and-you-have-to-arrange/) [Niki Lauda](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/niki-lauda/) > [...the great merit of the place is that one can arrange one's life here exactly as one pleases...there are facilities for every kind of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-james/the-great-merit-of-the-place-is-that-one-can-arrange-one-s-life-here/) [Henry James](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-james/) > [I wish you could arrange your life so as to have a little more leisure. I do not want you to be lazy, but…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elsa-barker/i-wish-you-could-arrange-your-life-so-as-to-have-a-little-more/) [Elsa Barker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elsa-barker/) > [“Solitude allows you to be able to arrange your life only around your destiny.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sunday-adelaja/solitude-allows-you-to-be-able-to-arrange-your-life-only-around-your/) [Sunday Adelaja](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sunday-adelaja/) > [“You arrange your life based on what "everyone" thinks of you or what you think they think of you,whoever everyone is...”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/esther-verhoef/you-arrange-your-life-based-on-what-everyone-thinks-of-you-or-what/) [Esther Verhoef](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/esther-verhoef/) > [If God could give me power to arrange my life, then Do you know what will I do?.. I will write my whole life…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/raj-singh/if-god-could-give-me-power-to-arrange-my-life-then-do-you-know-what/) [Raj Singh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/raj-singh/) > [And yet I know I am too young, that we're too young, for me to live my life only as it relates to you.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/megan-mccafferty/and-yet-i-know-i-am-too-young-that-we-re-too-young-for-me-to-live-my/) [Megan McCafferty](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/megan-mccafferty/) > [Prayer, even more than eating or sleeping, is not a luxury but a necessity, and we are only fully human when we remember this…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sheila-cassidy/prayer-even-more-than-eating-or-sleeping-is-not-a-luxury-but-a/) [Sheila Cassidy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sheila-cassidy/) > [If you understand why you are happy, you can learn to control and arrange your life to maximize situations in which you'll be happy.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/senoraroy/if-you-understand-why-you-are-happy-you-can-learn-to-control-and/) Senoraroy > [If only we arrange our life according to that principle which counsels us that we must hold to the difficult, then that which now…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rainer-maria-rilke/if-only-we-arrange-our-life-according-to-that-principle-which/) [Rainer Maria Rilke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rainer-maria-rilke/) ## More by Dorothy Canfield Fisher > [Life takes hold of us with strong hands and makes us greater than we thought.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dorothy-canfield-fisher/life-takes-hold-of-us-with-strong-hands-and-makes-us-greater-than-we/) [Dorothy Canfield Fisher](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dorothy-canfield-fisher/) > [“If we would give, just once, the same amount of reflection to what we want out of life that we give to the question…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dorothy-canfield-fisher/if-we-would-give-just-once-the-same-amount-of-reflection-to-what-we/) [Dorothy Canfield Fisher](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dorothy-canfield-fisher/) > [Compared with more emotional types, Vermonters seem to have few passions. But those they have are great and burning. The greatest is their conviction…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dorothy-canfield-fisher/compared-with-more-emotional-types-vermonters-seem-to-have-few/) [Dorothy Canfield Fisher](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dorothy-canfield-fisher/) > [On New Year's Day every calendar, large and small, has the same number of dates. But we soon learn that the years are of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dorothy-canfield-fisher/on-new-year-s-day-every-calendar-large-and-small-has-the-same-number/) [Dorothy Canfield Fisher](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dorothy-canfield-fisher/) > [A mother is not a person to lean on but a person to make leaning unnessary.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dorothy-canfield-fisher/a-mother-is-not-a-person-to-lean-on-but-a-person-to-make-leaning/) [Dorothy Canfield Fisher](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dorothy-canfield-fisher/) > [What is life, but one long risk?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dorothy-canfield-fisher/what-is-life-but-one-long-risk/) [Dorothy Canfield Fisher](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dorothy-canfield-fisher/) > [“How he loathed his life-long slavery to the clock, that pervasive intimate negative opposed to every spontaneous impulse. "It's the clock that is the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dorothy-canfield-fisher/how-he-loathed-his-life-long-slavery-to-the-clock-that-pervasive/) [Dorothy Canfield Fisher](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dorothy-canfield-fisher/) > [Father sticks to it that anything that promises to pay too much can't help being risky.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dorothy-canfield-fisher/father-sticks-to-it-that-anything-that-promises-to-pay-too-much-can-t/) [Dorothy Canfield Fisher](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dorothy-canfield-fisher/) > [Professional psychologists seem to think that they are the only people who make sense out of human actions. The rest of us know that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dorothy-canfield-fisher/professional-psychologists-seem-to-think-that-they-are-the-only/) [Dorothy Canfield Fisher](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dorothy-canfield-fisher/) > [one reason we haven't any national art is because we have too much magnificence. All our capacity for admiration is used up on the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dorothy-canfield-fisher/one-reason-we-haven-t-any-national-art-is-because-we-have-too-much/) [Dorothy Canfield Fisher](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dorothy-canfield-fisher/) > [You can't wish a body any worse luck than to get what he wants.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dorothy-canfield-fisher/you-can-t-wish-a-body-any-worse-luck-than-to-get-what-he-wants/) [Dorothy Canfield Fisher](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dorothy-canfield-fisher/) > [“Live while you can live, then die and be done with it.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dorothy-canfield-fisher/live-while-you-can-live-then-die-and-be-done-with-it/) [Dorothy Canfield Fisher](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dorothy-canfield-fisher/) > [Everyone bowed to that unwritten law of family life which ordains that, in the long run, everyone submerges his personal preference in the effort…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dorothy-canfield-fisher/everyone-bowed-to-that-unwritten-law-of-family-life-which-ordains/) [Dorothy Canfield Fisher](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dorothy-canfield-fisher/) > [I'm as fixed in my opinion as the man who thought he was a hard-boiled egg.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dorothy-canfield-fisher/i-m-as-fixed-in-my-opinion-as-the-man-who-thought-he-was-a-hard/) [Dorothy Canfield Fisher](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dorothy-canfield-fisher/) > [I've always noticed that nobody can be single-minded who isn't narrow-minded; and I think it likely that people who aren't so cocksure what they…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dorothy-canfield-fisher/i-ve-always-noticed-that-nobody-can-be-single-minded-who-isn-t-narrow/) [Dorothy Canfield Fisher](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dorothy-canfield-fisher/) [Explore all 50 Dorothy Canfield Fisher quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dorothy-canfield-fisher/) ## More Below the surface quotes > [Americans are so often thrown by Japan. It looks familiar but, an inch below the surface, it isn't anything like the West at all.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cathy-davidson/americans-are-so-often-thrown-by-japan-it-looks-familiar-but-an-inch/) [Cathy Davidson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cathy-davidson/) > [Observance of customs and laws can very easily be a cloak for a lie so subtle that our fellow human beings are unable to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carl-jung/observance-of-customs-and-laws-can-very-easily-be-a-cloak-for-a-lie/) [Carl Jung](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carl-jung/) > [“Philosophy, if it cannot answer so many questions as we could wish, has at least the power of asking questions which increase the interest…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bertrand-russell/philosophy-if-it-cannot-answer-so-many-questions-as-we-could-wish-has/) [Bertrand Russell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bertrand-russell/) > [...Was it because a lot of the heat went into melting Arctic sea ice or parts of Greenland and Antarctica, and other glaciers? Was…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kevin-e-trenberth/was-it-because-a-lot-of-the-heat-went-into-melting-arctic-sea-ice-or/) Kevin E. Trenberth > [Fiona has the same glacial beauty of an iceburg, but unlike the iceburg she has absolutely nothing below the surface.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/roald-dahl/fiona-has-the-same-glacial-beauty-of-an-iceburg-but-unlike-the/) [Roald Dahl](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/roald-dahl/) > [My photographs don't go below the surface. They don't go below anything. They're readings of the surface. I have great faith in surfaces. A…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-avedon/my-photographs-don-t-go-below-the-surface-they-don-t-go-below/) [Richard Avedon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-avedon/) > [Women want everything of a lover. And too often I would sink below the surface. So armies disappear under sand. And there was her…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-ondaatje/women-want-everything-of-a-lover-and-too-often-i-would-sink-below-the/) [Michael Ondaatje](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-ondaatje/) > [Many times when I stop working on a problem consciously, my mind continues to work on it below the surface. Often solutions come on…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marilynne-robinson/many-times-when-i-stop-working-on-a-problem-consciously-my-mind/) [Marilynne Robinson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marilynne-robinson/) > [English life is seventh-eighths below the surface, like an iceberg, and living in England for a year constitutes merely an introduction to an introduction…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/margaret-halsey/english-life-is-seventh-eighths-below-the-surface-like-an-iceberg-and/) [Margaret Halsey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/margaret-halsey/) > [Now imagine that you are going beneath the surface of the ocean. Below the surface all is calm, silent, and serene. As you visualize…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frederick-lenz/now-imagine-that-you-are-going-beneath-the-surface-of-the-ocean-below/) [Frederick Lenz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frederick-lenz/) > [The more familiar people are with the ecosystem that lives below the surface - invisible until you're actually in the ocean - the more…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jon-bowermaster/the-more-familiar-people-are-with-the-ecosystem-that-lives-below-the/) Jon Bowermaster > [Many fires burn below the surface.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/empedocles/many-fires-burn-below-the-surface/) [Empedocles](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/empedocles/) > [Below the surface stream, shallow and light, Of what we say and feel below the stream, As light, of what we think we feel,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/matthew-arnold/below-the-surface-stream-shallow-and-light-of-what-we-say-and-feel/) [Matthew Arnold](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/matthew-arnold/) > [She was doing that thing some people do when they act nice and chipper and interested, while just below the surface they’re thinking really…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cecily-von-ziegesar/she-was-doing-that-thing-some-people-do-when-they-act-nice-and/) [Cecily von Ziegesar](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cecily-von-ziegesar/) > [Perfection is crucial in building an aircraft, a bridge, or a high-speed train. The code and mathematics residing just below the surface of the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bren-brown/perfection-is-crucial-in-building-an-aircraft-a-bridge-or-a-high/) [Brené Brown](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bren-brown/) [Browse all 48 Below the surface quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/below-the-surface/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "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. 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