Authors / Thomas Jefferson

Thomas Jefferson quotes

1743–1826 · 3rd President of the United States

Jefferson drafted the Declaration of Independence and wrote some 19,000 letters. The Monticello foundation runs a whole page of quotes he never said.

3 real · 1 not theirs

3 quotes traced to Thomas Jefferson's own work or a reliable witness.

Sourced

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.

Source: Declaration of Independence (1776)

Sourced

I have sworn upon the altar of God eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man.

Source: Letter to Benjamin Rush (23 September 1800)

Sourced

I cannot live without books.

Source: Letter to John Adams (10 June 1815)

1 famous lines credited to Thomas Jefferson that are misquoted, unsourced or belong to someone else.

Not theirs

When the people fear the government, there is tyranny; when the government fears the people, there is liberty.

Actually: Monticello's research found no evidence Jefferson said it; it surfaces in the 20th century.