Great Biographies Challenge Our Egos

A young clergyman while dining with Abraham Lincoln displayed a belief similar to some who read my articles. This is a short excerpt from that conversation between the two men.

“Abraham Lincoln remarked how much he felt the need of reading, and what a loss it was to a man not to have grown up among books.

“The clergyman replied, ‘Men of force can get on pretty well without books. They do their own thinking instead of adopting what other men think.’

“ ‘Yes,’ said Mr. Lincoln, ‘but books serve to show a man that those original thoughts of his aren’t very new, after all.’ ” [See Footnote]

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​Disregarding the irony of a minister questioning the value of books—the bible is a book, Abraham Lincoln captured how I feel when I read a great biography about a good man or woman. I find that many of today’s new thoughts—including my own, aren’t so original. I find my thoughts sometimes wither, sometimes change direction, or sometimes prosper anew under a spotlight that accurately unfolds a great man’s or woman’s life of achievement.

​The clergyman ended the passage with a straightforward statement of what seems obvious but rarely written of Mr. Lincoln: “He loved the things of the Spirit.”

Be sure your children are readers. We all need our egos exercised and challenged.

Select the button below to see a collection of biographies and other miscellaneous books from the past reviewed by this author and by others from the year of their publishing.

Books about 20th Century Industrialists, Capitalists, Journalists and more.

Footnote: ​J. E. Gallaher, Best Lincoln Stories: Tersely Told, (M. A. Donohue & Company, Chicago, 1898) pp. 49,50