I have an irrepressible desire to live till I can be assured that the world is a little better for my having lived in it.

The line expresses a moral ambition rather than a personal one: life’s value is measured by its net effect on others and on the world. “Irrepressible desire” suggests a stubborn, sustaining drive—an inner compulsion to keep going until one’s existence can be justified by tangible improvement beyond the self. The phrasing also implies humility and uncertainty: the speaker does not assume his life automatically benefits the world; he wants assurance earned through action. As a sentiment often associated with Lincoln, it resonates with his public image as someone who framed leadership in terms of duty, sacrifice, and the long moral arc of national progress.