Skip to content
QuoteQuest

“I am young and unknown to many of you; I was born and have ever remained in the most humble walks of life. I have no wealthy or popular relations or friends to recommend me.”

Wording, attribution and rights checked against retrieved source text; not an independent editorial review.

— Abraham Lincoln

Verification

Attributed

Recorded by a reliable secondary source; exact wording may differ.

Wording, source authorship and rights checked against retrieved text; not an independent editorial review.

Live wording check · 2026-10-27

Author: Abraham Lincoln the subjects of which I have treated, I have spoken as I have thought. I may be wrong in regard to any or all of them; but, holding it a sound maxim that it is better only to be sometimes right than at all times wrong, so soon as I discover my opinions to be erroneous I shall be ready to renounce them. Every man is said to have his peculiar ambition. Whether it be true or not, I can say, for one, that I have no other so great as that of being truly esteemed of my fellow-men by rendering myself worthy of their esteem. How far I shall succeed in gratifying this ambition is yet to be developed. I am young and unknown to many of you; I was born and have ever remained in the most humble walks of life. I have no wealthy or popular relations or friends to recommend me. My case is thrown exclusively upon the independent voters of the county, and if elected, they will have conferred a favour upon me for which I shall be unremitting in my labours to compensate. But if the good people in their wisdom shall see fit to keep me in the background, I have been too familiar with disappointments to be very much chagrined. Your friend and fellow-citizen, A. LINCOLN. _Letter to Colonel Robert Allen. June 21, 1836_ Dear Colonel, I am told that during my absence last week you passed through this place, and stated publicly that you were in possession of a fact or facts whi Public domain in the USA.
Read evidence

Source

Title
Speeches & Letters of Abraham Lincoln, 1832-1865
Type
Public-domain primary text · Primary source
Edition date
1907
Location
Lincoln's First Public Speech
Held by
J. M. Dent & Sons Ltd
View source at J. M. Dent & Sons Ltd

Context (AI)

Lincoln introduces his circumstances to voters unfamiliar with him.

What it means (AI)

Provides Lincoln's own account of his humble beginnings and lack of influential connections.

Cite this source

Bibliography entry
Lincoln, Abraham. (1907). Speeches & Letters of Abraham Lincoln, 1832-1865. J. M. Dent & Sons Ltd. https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/14721/pg14721.txt
Quotation citation
Lincoln (1907, Lincoln's First Public Speech)
In-text citation
(Lincoln, 1907, Lincoln's First Public Speech)

Check citations against your institution's style guide.

Citation draft only — confirm wording, speaker and the underlying source before submitting schoolwork.

Report a problem

Provenance: https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/14721/pg14721.txt