"Free men do not ask permission to bear arms" is going around the internet and is being printed on t-shirts as a quote from Jefferson. I can't seem to find a definitive debunk, is this genuine?

I keep seeing this one, and I've not seen it cited as coming from a particular source: "the true theory of our Constitution is surely the wisest and best . . . (for) when all government . . . shall be drawn to Washington as the centre of all power, it will render powerless the checks provided of one government on another, and will become as . . . oppressive as the government from which we separated."

"The most valuable of all talents is that of never using two words when one will do." This quote has been attributed to Jefferson on various web sites, yet I have found no reference or source material cited. Is this quote spurious? Thanks in advance

Hi, Ms. Berkes. I ran into this one attributed to Jefferson on a website. Authentic? "The central bank is an institution of the most deadly hostility existing against the Principles and form of our Constitution. I am an Enemy to all banks discounting bills or notes for anything but Coin. If the American People allow private banks to control the issuance of their currency, first by inflation and then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around them will deprive the People of all their Property until their Children will wake up homeless on the continent their Fathers conquered."

Thanks again. You guys are the pros.

Someone on the discussion string came up with this version: "if we can but prevent the government from wasting the labours of the people, under the pretence of taking care of them, they must become happy." - Thomas Jefferson to Thomas Cooper, November 29, 1802[1]

Thanks again Anna. Here's another one, that sounds more suspicious to me than the last couple: "I predict future happiness for Americans, if they can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of taking care of them."

And another one: "Whenever there are in any country uncultivated lands and unemployed poor, it is clear that the laws of property have been so far extended as to violate natural right. The earth is given as a common stock for man to labor and live on. If for the encouragement of industry we allow it to be appropriated, we must take care that other employment be provided to those excluded from the appropriation. " -- Thomas Jefferson

Is this one real? "Dependence begets subservience and venality, suffocates the germ of virtue, and prepares fit tools for the designs of ambition."

Here's the link to the page I noted on my recent query: http://www.thefederalistpapers.org/founders/jefferson/the-patriot-like-the-christian-must-learn-that-to-bear-persections-is-a-part-of-his-duty

This has come up linked to a page calling itself "The Federalist Papers." This quote is about midway through a letter from TJ to James Sullivan of Massachusetts, May 21, 1805. Is it genuine? "The patriot, like the Christian, must learn that to bear revielings & persecutions is a part of his duty; and in proportion as the trial is severe, firmness under it becomes more requisite & praiseworthy. It requires, indeed, self-command. But that will be fortified in proportion as the calls for it’s exercise are repeated."

A supposed Thomas Jefferson quote I've seen tossed around a lot in the wake of the shutdown and near default goes something like "you get the government you deserve" or "citizens get the government they deserve." I don't find it under real quotes or spurious ones. Can you help?

Help! Two versions, neither of which I can confirm, but which are all over the internet now (immigration debate must be heating up): Version 1: A country without secure borders is no country. Version 2: A nation without secure borders is no nation. Am I safe in saying either version is probably bogus?

"Experience demands that man is the only animal which devours its own kind, for I can apply no milder term to the general prey of the rich upon the poor." Jefferson, or not?

Is this a new spurious attribution? "The greatest danger to american freedom is a government that ignores the constitution."

This is the most recent dubious Jefferson quotation I have seen on Facebook: “When injustice becomes law, resistance becomes duty.” Some sources say that it actually dates to the Civil War and was a Confederate saying.

I've seen this one floating around: "In a free society with a government based on reason, it is inevitable that there will be no uniform opinion about important issues. Those accustomed to suppression and control by governmental authority see this as leading only to chaos. But a government of the people requires difference of opinion in order to discover truth and to take advantage of the opportunity that only understanding brings." As yet I have been unable to locate an actual cite for the quotation. Even on the old UVa quotations site, it was provided with no reference, and any place I find it the people link back to that source as opposed to indicating a letter or speech or something. The only other place I've seen anything close was a speech during executive session in the Senate on May 23, 2005, by Diane Feinstein wherein she alludes to Jefferson, but does not appear to actually quote him.

This one is spreading around the Internet; I think it is spurious. Can you confirm that? "When asked to read between the lines to find implied powers, Thomas Jefferson responded that he had done that, and he 'found only blank space.'"

Is this quotation attributed to Thomas Jefferson accurate? "We must not let our rulers load us with perpetual debt. We must (choose) between economy & liberty or profusion & servitude." If accurate, it is ironic, given in how much debt Jefferson lived most of his life.

FOX News contributor Dr. Keith Ablow cites the following today - is it spurious? As Thomas Jefferson wrote to his nephew Peter Carr in 1785, "A strong body makes the mind strong. As to the species of exercises, I advise the gun. While this gives a moderate exercise to the Body, it gives boldness, enterprise, and independence to the mind . . . " Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2013/01/12/psychological-and-public-health-benefits-gun-ownership/#ixzz2Hm2Fmo2I

Hi, This quote. attributed to Thomas Jefferson, is making the rounds of political forums: "The democracy will cease to exist when you take away from those who are willing to work and give to those who would not” Is this a fake quote, a real T.J. quote, or a quote belonging to someone else? Thanks.