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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)
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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)
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)
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)
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)
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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)
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)

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.

Rick Massimo

Rick Massimo came to WTOP, and to Washington, in 2013 after having lived in Providence, R.I., since he was a child. He's the author of "A Walking Tour of the Georgetown Set" and "I Got a Song: A History of the Newport Folk Festival."

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