What did Abraham Lincoln say about books?

Q: What did Abraham Lincoln say about reading?

Abe Lincoln read everything he could. He used to say, the things I want to know are in books. My best friend is a man who will get me a book I aint read.2 He still needed to work on his grammar, but his intent was clear.

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CONSTITUTION
DEMOCRATIC GOVERNMENT
Did Abraham Lincoln like to read books?
What did Abraham Lincoln say about reading?
What is Abraham Lincoln's most famous quote?
Who encouraged Lincoln to read books?

AMBITION

Every man is said to have his peculiar ambition. Whether it be true or not, I can say for one that I have no other so great as that of being truly esteemed of my fellow men, by rendering myself worthy of their esteem. How far I shall succeed in gratifying this ambition, is yet to be developed.
--March 9, 1832 First Political Announcement

Towering genius distains a beaten path. It seeks regions hitherto unexplored.
--January 27, 1838 Lyceum Address

You are ambitious, which, within reasonable bounds, does good rather than harm.
--January 26, 1863 Letter to Joseph Hooker

ANARCHY

There is no grievance that is a fit object of redress by mob law.
--January 27, 1838 Lyceum Address

John Brown's effort was peculiar. It was not a slave insurrection. It was an attempt by white men to get up a revolt among slaves, in which the slaves refused to participate.
--February 27, 1860 Cooper Union Address

Plainly, the central idea of secession, is the essence of anarchy.
--March 4, 1861 Inaugural Address

CONSTITUTION

Don't interfere with anything in the Constitution. That must be maintained, for it is the only safeguard of our liberties. And not to Democrats alone do I make this appeal, but to all who love these great and true principles.
--August 27, 1856 Speech at Kalamazoo, Michigan

Let us then turn this government back into the channel in which the framers of the Constitution originally placed it.
--July 10, 1858 Speech at Chicago

I have borne a laborious, and, in some respects to myself, a painful part in the contest. Through all, I have neither assailed, nor wrestled with any part of the constitution.
--October 30, 1858 Speech at Springfield

The people -- the people -- are the rightful masters of both congresses, and courts -- not to overthrow the constitution, but to overthrow the men who pervert it.
--September 16 and 17, 1859 Notes for Speeches at Columbus and Cincinnati

I am exceedingly anxious that this Union, the Constitution, and the liberties of the people shall be perpetuated in accordance with the original idea for which that struggle was made, and I shall be most happy indeed if I shall be an humble instrument in the hands of the Almighty, and of this, his almost chosen people, for perpetuating the object of that great struggle.
--February 21, 1861 Speech to the New Jersey Senate

DANGER

At what point then is the approach of danger to be expected? I answer, if it ever reach us, it must spring up amongst us. It cannot come from abroad. If destruction be our lot, we must ourselves be its author and finisher. As a nation of freemen, we must live through all time, or die by suicide.
--January 27, 1838 Lyceum Address

I think to lose Kentucky is nearly the same as to lose the whole game. Kentucky gone, we can not hold Missouri, nor, as I think, Maryland. These all against us, and the job on our hands is too large for us.
--September 22, 1861 Letter to Orville Browning

The dogmas of the quiet past, are inadequate to the stormy present. The occasion is piled high with difficulty, and we must rise -- with the occasion. As our case is new, so we must think anew, and act anew. We must disentrall ourselves, and then we shall save our country.
--December 1, 1862 Message to Congress

The proportions of this rebellion were not for a long time understood. I saw that it involved the greatest difficulties, and would call forth all the powers of the whole country.
--June 2, 1863 Reply to Members of the Presbyterian General Assembly

In a word, I would not take any risk of being entangled upon the river, like an ox jumped half over a fence, and liable to be torn by dogs, front and rear, without a fair chance to gore one way or kick the other.
--June 5, 1863 Letter to Joseph Hooker

DEMOCRATIC GOVERNMENT

Of our political revolution of '76, we all are justly proud. It has given us a degree of political freedom, far exceeding that of any other nation of the earth. In it the world has found a solution of the long mooted problem, as to the capability of man to govern himself. In it was the germ which has vegetated, and still is to grow and expand into the universal liberty of mankind.
--February 22, 1842 Temperance Address

The legitimate object of government, is to do for a community of people, whatever they need to have done, but can not do, at all, or can not, so well do, for themselves -- in their separate, and individual capacities.
--July 1, 1854 [?] Fragment on Government

Our government rests in public opinion. Whoever can change public opinion, can change the government, practically just so much.
--December 10, 1856 Speech at Chicago

Welcome, or unwelcome, agreeable, or disagreeable, whether this shall be an entire slave nation, is the issue before us.
--ca. May 18, 1858 Fragment of a Speech

As I would not be a slave, so I would not be a master. This expresses my idea of democracy. Whatever differs from this, to the extent of the difference, is no democracy.
--ca. August 1, 1858 Fragment on Democracy

I think we have fairly entered upon a durable struggle as to whether this nation is to ultimately become all slave or all free, and though I fall early in the contest, it is nothing if I shall have contributed, in the least degree, to the final rightful result.
--December 8, 1858 Letter to H.D. Sharpe

Understanding the spirit of our institutions to aim at the elevation of men, I am opposed to whatever tends to degrade them.
--May 17, 1859 Letter to Theodore Canisius

...I do not mean to say that this government is charged with the duty of redressing or preventing all the wrongs in the world; but I do think that it is charged with the duty of preventing and redressing all wrongs which are wrongs to itself.
--September 17, 1859 Speech at Cincinnati, Ohio

This is essentially a People's contest. On the side of the Union, it is a struggle for maintaining in the world, that form, and substance of government, whose leading object is, to elevate the condition of men -- to lift artificial weights from all shoulders -- to clear the paths of laudable pursuit for all -- to afford all, an unfettered start, and a fair chance, in the race of life.
--July 4, 1861 Message to Congress

May our children and our children's children to a thousand generations, continue to enjoy the benefits conferred upon us by a united country, and have cause yet to rejoice under those glorious institutions bequeathed us by Washington and his compeers.
--October 4, 1862 Speech at Frederick, Maryland

The restoration of the Rebel States to the Union must rest upon the principle of civil and political equality of both races; and it must be sealed by general amnesty.
--January 1864, Letter to James S. Wadsworth

While we must, by all available means, prevent the overthrow of the government, we should avoid planting and cultivating too many thorns in the bosom of society.
--March 18, 1864 Letter to Edwin M. Stanton

In this great struggle, this form of Government and every form of human right is endangered if our enemies succeed. There is more involved in this contest than is realized by every one.
--August 18, 1864 Speech to the 164th Ohio Regiment

It is not merely for to-day, but for all time to come that we should perpetuate for our children's children this great and free government, which we have enjoyed all our lives. --August 22, 1864 Speech to the One Hundred Sixty-sixth Ohio Regiment

Did Abraham Lincoln like to read books?

Our 16th president, Abraham Lincoln, loved to read. As a young adult, his education was limited; however, he was very motivated to learn to read. Books were few and far between in the Lincoln household, and neighbors often reported seeing him walk miles just to borrow reading material.

What did Abraham Lincoln say about reading?

Abe Lincoln read everything he could. He used to say, "the things I want to know are in books. My best friend is a man who will get me a book I ain't read.""² He still needed to work on his grammar, but his intent was clear.

What is Abraham Lincoln's most famous quote?

“I am not bound to win, but I am bound to be true. I am not bound to succeed, but I am bound to live up to what light I have.”

Who encouraged Lincoln to read books?

Ten-year-old Abe quickly bonded with his new stepmother, who raised her two young stepchildren as her own. Describing her in 1860, Lincoln remarked that she was "a good and kind mother" to him. Sally encouraged Lincoln's eagerness to learn and desire to read, and shared her own collection of books with him.