Thomas Jefferson Encyclopedia

Governments constantly choose between telling lies...(Spurious Quotation)

Find out whether Thomas Jefferson ever wrote, "Governments constantly choose between telling lies and fighting wars, , with the end result always being the same.

A modern-day portrait of Thomas Jefferson in early 19-century attire with a speech bubble next to his head that says, "I said what?!"

Quotation: "Governments constantly choose between telling lies and fighting wars, with the end result always being the same. One will always lead to the other."

Variations: No known variations

Sources consulted:

  1. Founders Online
  2. Papers of Thomas Jefferson: Retirement Series

First known appearance in print: 20071

First known appearance in print, attributed to Thomas Jefferson: see above

Comments: This quotation has not been found in the writings of Thomas Jefferson.

- Anna Berkes, 2013

Footnotes

  1. Frank O'Dette, Poor George's Almanac: A 2008 Calendar (CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, 2007), 6.  Searched Google Books, Amazon, Access Newspaper Archive, JSTOR, Questia.