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Quotation: "My reading of history convinces me that most bad government results from too much government."
Earliest known appearance in print, attributed to Jefferson: 1950
Comments: This exact quotation has not been found in any of the writings of Thomas Jefferson. It bears some slight resemblance to a statement he made in a letter to John Norvell of June 14, 1807: "History, in general, only informs us what bad government is." However, the quotation as it appears above can definitely be attributed to John Sharp Williams in a speech about Jefferson, which has most likely been mistaken at some point for a direct quotation of Jefferson.
For a discussion of this spurious quote see the Monticello website here.
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