Abandoned by his father at about age 9 to be cared for by a teenaged sister for several years after his mother’s premature death, raised in a dirt-floor Kentucky shack without any chance to attend school—Abraham Lincoln grew up to become our most beloved president and perhaps the greatest man of the nineteenth century. What qualities made this incredibly resilient child thrive? The answer: towering intellectual gifts, a remarkable drive to learn, optimism, self-efficacy, and—most of all—a world-class talent for understanding human motivations and connecting with people in a caring, prosocial way. By the way, while he guided a battered nation, “father Abraham”—shown here with his son—also made time to be a totally permissive, hands-on dad.

The Library of Congress