Everyone quotes Thomas Jefferson, but often they quote something he didn't really say. How well can you pick out the real thing? Take our quiz.
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)
Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images
Jefferson or no?
“The whole art of government consists in the art of being honest.”
(AP Photo/Steve Helber)
AP Photo/Steve Helber
Jefferson!
From “Summary View of the Rights of British America ,” July 1774.
(Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)
Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images
Jefferson or no?
“When government fears the people, there is liberty. When the people fear the government, there is tyranny.”
(AP Photo/Gene Abbott)
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)
WTOP/Megan Cloherty
Jefferson or no?
“I like the dreams of the future better than the history of the past.”
(AP Photo/Steve Helber, File)
AP Photo/Steve Helber, File
Jefferson!
From a letter to John Adams, Aug. 1, 1816 .
(Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)
Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images
Jefferson or no?
“Never put off to tomorrow what you can do today.”
(AP Photo/Susan Walsh)
AP Photo/Susan Walsh
Jefferson!
From “A Dozen Canons of conduct in Life .”
(Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)
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
Jefferson!
From a letter to Jeremiah Moore, Aug. 14, 1800 .
(Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)
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
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)
Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images
Jefferson or no?
“The glow of one warm thought is to me worth more than money.”
(AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, File)
AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, File
Jefferson!
From a letter to Charles McPherson , Feb. 25, 1773.
(Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)
Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images
Jefferson or no?
“Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty.”
(Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)
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
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)
Photo by Mark Wilson/Getty Images
Nope.
This one didn’t start showing up online until 2008, Monticello says .
(Photo by Jonathan Ernst/Getty Images)
Photo by Jonathan Ernst/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)
Photo by Mark Wilson/Getty Images
Jefferson!
From “Notes on the State of Virginia ,” 1782.
(Getty Images)
Getty Images
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)
AP Photo/Charlie Riedel
Jefferson!
From a letter to William Stephens Smith, Nov. 13, 1787 .
(Getty Images)
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)
Photo by William England/London Stereoscopic Company/Getty Images
Jefferson!
From “Notes on the State of Virginia ,” 1872.
(Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)
Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images
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)
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)
AP Photo/Paul Vathis
Jefferson or no?
“The people … are the only sure reliance for the preservation of our liberty.”
(Photo by Mark Wilson/Getty Images)
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)
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.