$#!* Jefferson Didn't Say

"People will see a quote and it appeals to an opinion that they have and if it has Jefferson's name attached to it that gives it more weight," she says. "He's constantly being invoked by people when they are making arguments about politics and actually all sorts of topics."

A spokeswoman for the Guide's publisher said it was looking into the quote. Mr. Norris's publicist didn't respond to requests for comment.

To counter what she calls rampant misattribution, Ms. Berkes is fighting the Internet with the Internet. She has set up a "Spurious Quotations" page on the Monticello website listing bogus quotes attributed to the founding father, a prolific writer and rhetorician who was the principal author of the Declaration of Independence.

Fake Jefferson came up with an awful lot of favorite sayings...

All tyranny needs to gain a foothold...
Bad government results from too much government
The beauty of the Second Amendment... (Quotation)
The Bible is the source of liberty (Quotation)
The Christian god is a three headed monster
Democracy is nothing more than mob rule...
The democracy will cease to exist...(Quotation)
Dissent is the highest form of patriotism
Do you want to know who you are?
An educated citizenry...
Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty
Every man has two countries - his own and France
Few die, none resign
Government big enough...
If a law is unjust...
If we are to guard against ignorance...
I would rather be judged by 12 farmers than 12 scholars
In matters of style, swim with the current...
Information is the currency of democracy
Jewel among the states
Making this wine vine known to the public
Museum of our soul
The nation was clothed with ample powers...(Quotation)
Near-perfect republic
No duty the Executive had to perform...
No nation has ever yet existed or been governed without religion...
Nothing can stop the man with the right mental attitude...
The office of citizen
Private Banks
Some of my finest hours have been spent on my back veranda, smoking hemp...
Spell a word only one way
Strongest reason for the people to...keep and bear arms...
Superstition of Christianity
That government is best which governs the least. (Quotation)
The two enemies of the people...(Quotation)
Those who hammer their guns into plows...(Quotation)
Tyranny is defined as that which is legal for the government
The web of mutual obligations between generations...(Quotation)
When you reach the end of your rope, tie a knot in it and hang on (Quotation)
Without God, liberty will not last (Quotation)