That most human and American of presidents

That most human and American of presidents—of Americans—Abraham Lincoln, said as a young man: The things I want to know are in books; my best friend is the man who'll get me a book I ain't read. It's a hard heart, and a dull one, that doesn't go out to that sentence. The man who will make us see what we haven't seen, feel what we haven't felt, understand what we haven't understood—he is our best friend. And if he knows more than we do, that is an invitation to us, not an indictment of us. And it is not an indictment of him, either; it takes all sorts of people to make a world—to make, even, a United States of America.

Randall Jarrell

The Intellectual in America, p. 15; conclusion - A Sad Heart at the Supermarket: Essays & Fables (1962)