Common looking people are the best in the world: that is the reason the Lord makes so many of them.

The line is a wry, democratic compliment: it elevates “common” people by implying that ordinariness is not a defect but a virtue, even the norm intended by Providence. The humor turns on a mock-theological explanation—God makes many “common looking” people because they are “the best”—which gently punctures vanity and social pretension. In quotation culture it is often used to celebrate plainness, humility, and the moral worth of the average person. However, because the attribution to Lincoln is doubtful, the quote’s significance today may lie more in its reflection of popular “Lincoln” folklore (homespun wit attached to his name) than in a securely documented Lincoln utterance.