Did Thomas Jefferson really say it? Take our quiz

American statesman Thomas Jefferson (1743 - 1826), the 3rd President of the United States of America. Jefferson was also responsible of the writing of the Declaration of Independence. Original Artwork: Engraving after painting by Rembrandt Peale. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images) — You’ll see a slide with a quotation commonly attributed to Thomas Jefferson. If it’s the real thing, the next slide will have a rendering of the man himself. If it’s not, you’ll see a picture of a fictional Jefferson. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

Monticello, the home of Thomas Jefferson, is bathed in morning light in Charlottesville, Va., Friday, Feb. 7, 2014. Jefferson's Monticello will offer many remembrances of his years in France when President Francois Hollande and President Barack Obama visit Monticello on Monday, Feb. 10. (AP Photo/Steve Helber) — **Jefferson or no?** “The whole art of government consists in the art of being honest.” (AP Photo/Steve Helber)

Jefferson Memorial dedication ceremonies, April 13, 1943, looking across the tidal basin in Washington. Man standing on top of the memorial is a guard. (AP Photo/Gene Abbott) — **Jefferson or no?** “When government fears the people, there is liberty. When the people fear the government, there is tyranny.” (AP Photo/Gene Abbott)

**Nope.** It first appeared in print in 1914, and was first attributed to Jefferson in 1994, Monticello says. It’s also been attributed to Samuel Adams and Thomas Paine — neither of whom said it either. (That’s a picture of the Nationals’ Racing President character Thomas Jefferson.) (WTOP/Megan Cloherty)

FILE - In this April 22, 2009, file photo, visitors walk in the garden behind Thomas Jefferson's home Monticello in Charlottesville, Va. Charlottesville is the home of founding fathers, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and James Monroe. Jefferson's plantation manor, Monticello, is a few miles from where the Cavaliers play. (AP Photo/Steve Helber, File) — **Jefferson or no?** “I like the dreams of the future better than the history of the past.” (AP Photo/Steve Helber, File)

circa 1802: Thomas Jefferson (1743 - 1826), 3rd President of the United States of America (1801 - 1809, founder of the Democratic Republican Party. He was largely responsible for drawing up the Declaration of Independence. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images) — **Jefferson!** From a letter to John Adams, Aug. 1, 1816. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

Cherry Trees are in full bloom around the tidal basin in Washington, Thursday, April 1, 2010, with the Jefferson Memorial in the background. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh) — **Jefferson or no?** “Never put off to tomorrow what you can do today.” (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

circa 1780: Thomas Jefferson (1743 - 1826), the 3rd President of the United States of America. Born in Virginia, he drafted the Declaration of Independence, signed 4th July, 1776. Original Artwork: Engraving by A B Hall of New York (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images) — **Jefferson!** From “A Dozen Canons of conduct in Life.” (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

Jefferson or no? “I have not observed men’s honesty to increase with their riches.” (AP Photo/Steve Helber, File)

AP Photo/Steve Helber, File

circa 1790: American statesman Thomas Jefferson (1743 - 1826), the 3rd President of the United States of America. Jefferson was also responsible for the writing of the Declaration of Independence. Original Artwork: Engraving after painting by Rembrandt Peale. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images) — **Jefferson!** From a letter to Jeremiah Moore, Aug. 14, 1800. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

Jefferson or no? “Sir, no nation has ever yet existed or been governed without religion. Nor can be. The Christian religion is the best religion that has been given to man …” (AP Photo/Steve Helber)

AP Photo/Steve Helber

Promotional studio portrait of American rock group Jefferson Starship, 1970s. L-R: Aynsley Dunbar, Pete Sears, David Freiberg, Mickey Thomas, Craig Chaquico and Paul Kantner. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images) — **Nope.** It’s a third-hand quotation someone told to Ethan Allen, who published it in 1857 more than 30 years after Jefferson died, Monticello says. (That’s the Jefferson Airplane.) (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

FILE- In this March 24, 2016, file photo, cherry blossoms in full bloom are lit pink at sunrise by the tidal basin in Washington, looking toward the Jefferson Memorial. The predicted peak blooming period for this year's cherry blossom season in Washington is being pushed back. National Park Service officials announced just last week that the peak bloom was expected between March 14, 2017, and March 17. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, File) — **Jefferson or no?** “The glow of one warm thought is to me worth more than money.” (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, File)

Thomas Jefferson (1743 - 1826), the 3rd President of the United States of America, (first elected 1801), born in Virginia. He drafted the Declaration of Independence, which was signed on the 4th of July, 1776. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images) — **Jefferson!** From a letter to Charles McPherson, Feb. 25, 1773. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA - AUGUST 17: The Monticello home of former U.S. President Thomas Jefferson is shown August 17, 2005 near Charlottesville in Virginia. The rapid growth of the Washington Metropolitan area in Northern Virginia is threatening the "Journey Through Hallowed Ground" Corridor, which encompasses a 175-mile-long stretch of land from Gettysburg, Pennsylvania to Monticello, Virginia, with incompatible new developments (suburban sprawl) according to the recently released study by the National Trust for Historic Preservation in its annual list of America's most endangered historic places. The corridor has been recognized by national historians as the region that holds more American history than any other place in the country. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images) — **Jefferson or no?** “Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty.” (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)

Nope. It was first published in 1817; the first fake attribution to Jefferson came in 1834, Monticello says. (That’s Daveed Diggs, who played both Thomas Jefferson and Marquis de Lafayette in the Broadway hit “Hamilton.”) (Photo by Scott Gries/Invision/AP)

Photo by Scott Gries/Invision/AP

Jefferson or no? “My reading of history convinces me that most bad government results from too much government.” (AP Photo/J. David Ake, File)

AP Photo/J. David Ake, File

Nope. They started hanging this on Jefferson in 1950, Monticello says. (Evidently the Nats aren’t the only ones with giant-headed president mascots. That’s a big-headed Jefferson watching a big-headed Washington throw out the first pitch before the Colorado Rockies host the Miami Marlins in 2015.) (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)

AP Photo/David Zalubowski

WASHINGTON, DC - FEBRUARY 10: The early morning sun begins to rise behind the Jefferson Memorial on February 10, 2017 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Mark Wilson/Getty Images) — **Jefferson or no?** “Some of my finest hours have been spent on my back veranda, smoking hemp and observing as far as my eye can see.” (Photo by Mark Wilson/Getty Images)

WASHINGTON - MARCH 16: The Rushmores - mascots for the Washington Nationals MLB baseball team in the guise of former U.S. Presidents George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln and Theodore Roosevelt - get in on the act as elephants from the Ringling Bros. and Barnem & Bailey Circus stop near the U.S. Capitol for a photo op as they parade through town to announce the circus's arrival for performances on March 16, 2010 in Washington, DC. The circus' Zing Zang Zoom Red Tour will be at the Verizon Center from March 18 to March 21. (Photo by Jonathan Ernst/Getty Images) — **Nope.** This one didn’t start showing up online until 2008, Monticello says. (Photo by Jonathan Ernst/Getty Images)

Friday is 'Car Free Day' which encourages commuters to find alternatives to auto travel. (Photo by Mark Wilson/Getty Images) — **Jefferson or no?** “The legitimate powers of government extend to such acts only as are injurious to others. But it does me no injury for my neighbour to say there are twenty gods, or no god. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg.” (Photo by Mark Wilson/Getty Images)

**Jefferson!** From “Notes on the State of Virginia,” 1782. (Getty Images)

German workers Gerhard Buchar, right, and Winfried Hagenau, left, along with National Park Service employee Darin Oestman use pressure washers to clean around the face of Thomas Jefferson July 22, 2005, at Mount Rushmore National Memorial in South Dakota. The workers are taking part in a project to clean dirt and a fungus called lichen from the monument. The granite sculptures hadn't been washed since they were completed 65 years ago by sculptor Gutzon Borglum. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel) — **Jefferson or no?** “The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants. It is its natural manure.” (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)

**Jefferson!** From a letter to William Stephens Smith, Nov. 13, 1787.
(Getty Images)

1859: The arch formation known as 'Natural Bridge' near the Blue Ridge Mountains, Virginia. (Photo by William England/London Stereoscopic Company/Getty Images) — **Jefferson or no?** “The Natural bridge, the most sublime of Nature’s works … so beautiful an arch, so elevated, so light, and springing as it were up to heaven, the rapture of the spectator is really indescribable!” (Photo by William England/London Stereoscopic Company/Getty Images)

Biofilm has blackened sections of the rotunda and the foundation wall of the Jefferson Memorial. The National Park Service describes the film as a combination of bacteria, fungi and algae growing on the marble of the 73-year-old landmark. (WTOP/Nick Iannelli) — **Jefferson or no?** “The democracy will cease to exist when you take away from those who are willing to work and give to those who would not.” (WTOP/Nick Iannelli)

**Nope.** This one first came up in 1986, Monticello says. (That’s Redskins receiver Roy Jefferson in 1973.) (AP Photo/Paul Vathis)

WASHINGTON, DC - SEPTEMBER 26: Paddle boat Swan's sit together on the rental dock at the Tidal Basin near the Jefferson Memorial September 26, 2016 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Mark Wilson/Getty Images) — **Jefferson or no?** “The people … are the only sure reliance for the preservation of our liberty.” (Photo by Mark Wilson/Getty Images)

**Jefferson!** From a letter to James Madison, then to Uriah Forrest, Dec. 31, 1787. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

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WASHINGTON — Thomas Jefferson, who was born April 13, 1743, is one of the most-quoted people in American history, and rightly so. From “Notes on Virginia” to the Declaration of Independence and beyond, his words set the country’s foundation like no one else’s.

There’s one thing about that: He’s also quoted a lot for things he never actually said, or wrote. Sometimes the misquotes are close, but significant; sometimes, the words are from his contemporaries, and sometimes, his name is straight-up jacked by people who want to use the respect his name inspires to drive their agenda home.

Indeed, the website for Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello has, alongside its collection of real Jefferson quotes, an entire section of spurious quotes — sayings that have been credited to Jefferson, but that he never really said.

So here are a bunch of quotes commonly attributed to the Founding Father. See whether you can tell the fake Jefferson from the real McCoy.

Did Thomas Jefferson really say it? Take our quiz

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Did Thomas Jefferson really say it? Take our quiz

Share This Gallery:

Related News

Fashion influencer Matilda Djerf apologizes following report she created a toxic workplace

How you could benefit from tax-loss selling this year

Prayerful, playful, mystical: Some of AP’s most compelling religion photos of 2024.

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