– Intelligence and Education –

Towering genius disdains a beaten path. It seeks regions hitherto unexplored. It sees no distinction in adding story to story, upon the monuments of fame, erected to the memory of others. It denies that it is glory enough to serve under any chief. It scorns to tread in the footsteps of any predecessor, however illustrious. It thirsts and burns for distinction; and, if possible, it will have it, whether at the expense of emancipating slaves, or enslaving freemen.

—Address before the Young Men’s Lyceum of Springfield, January 27, 1838

The demon of intemperance ever seems to have delighted in sucking the blood of genius and of generosity.

—Address on Temperance, Springfield, Illinois, February 22, 1842

I am slow to learn and slow to forget that which I have learned. My mind is like a piece of steel—very hard to scratch anything on it, and almost impossible after you get it there to rub it out.

—Remark to Joshua F. Speed, from Herndon’s Lincoln: The True Story of a Great Life by William H. Herndon and Jesse W. Weik

To be fruitful in invention, it is indispensable to have a habit of observation and reflection.

—Lecture on Discoveries and Inventions, Jacksonville, Illinois, February 11, 1859

Often an idea would occur to me which seemed to have force. . . . I never let one of those ideas escape me, but wrote it on a scrap of paper and put it in that drawer. In that way I save my best thoughts on the subject, and, you know, such things often come in a kind of intuitive way more clearly than if one were to sit down and deliberately reason them out. To save the results of such mental action is true intellectual economy. . . .

—Remark to James F. Wilson, June 1862, from Autobiography, Greatest Americans edited by George Iles

When I read aloud two senses catch the idea: first, I see what I read; second, I hear it, and therefore I can remember it better.

—Remark to William H. Herndon about Lincoln’s constant habit of reading aloud, from Herndon’s Lincoln: The True Story of a Great Life by William H. Herndon and Jesse W. Weik

Upon the subject of education, not presuming to dictate any plan or system respecting it, I can only say that I view it as the most important subject which we as a people can be engaged in.

—Letter entitled “To the People of Sangamon County” March 9, 1832, while a candidate for the Illinois State Legislature

Mr. Clay’s lack of a more perfect early education, however it may be regretted generally, teaches at least one profitable lesson; it teaches that in this country, one can scarcely be so poor, but that, if he will, he can acquire sufficient education to get through the world respectably.

—Eulogy on Henry Clay, July 6, 1852

A capacity, and taste, for reading, gives access to whatever has already been discovered by others. It is the key, or one of the keys, to the already solved problems. And not only so. It gives a relish, and facility, for successfully pursuing the [yet] unsolved ones.

—Address before the Wisconsin State Agricultural Society, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, September 30, 1859

The old general rule was that educated people did not perform manual labor. They managed to eat their bread, leaving the toil of producing it to the uneducated. This was not an insupportable evil to the working bees, so long as the class of drones remained very small. But now, especially in these free States, nearly all are educated—quite too nearly all, to leave the labor of the uneducated, in any wise adequate to the support of the whole. It follows from this that henceforth educated people must labor. Otherwise, education itself would become a positive and intolerable evil. No country can sustain, in idleness, more than a small percentage of its numbers. The great majority must labor at something productive.

—Address before the Wisconsin State Agricultural Society, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, September 30, 1859