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.
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