The amazing uneducated/self-educated Abraham Lincoln!

[Eva Elisabeth]

(03-15-2013 01:09 PM)RJNorton Wrote:  Fascinating post, Tom. Thank you. I think I'll mention something I read once but cannot recall the source. I read that despite Lincoln's reputation as a reader, he rarely, if ever, read a book cover to cover. He would read bits and parts, sometimes the same parts over and over, but not the whole book. I think one of his friends said that, but I cannot recall where I got it or how true it is. I am curious if anyone else has ever read anything like what I just mentioned.

Maybe it's out of date to comment on this, also Liz already gave an answer, but perhaps you mean this quote by Herndon (see "Herndon's Life of A.L., p.258):

"Beyond a limited acquaintance with Shakespeare, Byron and Burns, Mr. Lincoln, comparatively speaking, had no knowledge of literature. He was familiar with the bible, and now and then evidenced a fancy for some poem or short sketch to which his attention was called by someone else, or which he happened to run accross in his cursory reading of books or newspapers. He never in his life sat down and read a book through, and yet he could readily quote any numbers of passages from the few volumes whose pages he had hastily scanned."