Jon--could you provide info on the disavowal of bogus quotes by founders on religion that you mention?--Mick Nicholls ----- Original Message ----- From: "Jon Kukla" <[log in to unmask]> To: <[log in to unmask]> Sent: Tuesday, November 15, 2005 12:19 PM Subject: quotations and bogus quotations > For what its worth, I too suspect its a bogus quote. It is amazing how > many of those are in circulation. > About a dozen bogus quotes in which various of the founders spoke about > Christianity - Henry included - have been disavowed by one of the > right-leaning sites that had promoted them in the 90s. > More recently we've seen a scholastic poster marketed by a mainstream > educational company that attributes to Henry a "quotation" from Voltaire > - well actually another author's SUMMARY of something Voltaire wrote: > The familiar version ("I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to > the death your right to say it") attributed to the great French philosophe > Voltaire was another writer's summary of Voltaire's whose actual words in > a letter to M. le Riche, February 6, 1770: "I detest what you write, but I > would give my life to make it possible for you to continue to write." > > As others have noted, the quotation in question sounds a bit formulaic and > aphoristic for Jefferson - but it could well be somebody else's summary of > an attitude he might have expressed. The advice itself, for example, is > not far off Jefferson's comment in a letter of 1803 to John Randolph of > Roanoke about "the reasonableness of mutual sacrifices of opinion among > those who are to act together, for any common object, and the expediency > of doing what good we can; when we cannot do all we would wish." > > By the way: my searches for the words "swim" and "principle" in the UVA > e-text center's online text of TJ's autobiography turn up no matches with > the quote. > > Dr. Jon Kukla, Executive Vice-President > Red Hill - The Patrick Henry National Memorial > 1250 Red Hill Road > Brookneal, Virginia 24528 > www.redhill.org > > > I was recently at a presentation where the speaker used an unfamiliar > > Jefferson quotation and I have had no luck tracking down its citation. A > > Google search led to 359,000 sites, but alas none of them on the first 5 > > pages gives me a citation. I have also checked the Jefferson Cyclopedia > > and > > staff at Monticello. > > > > Does anyone recognize this quotation and can you tell me from where it > > comes: > > > > "In matters of principle, stand like a rock; in matters of taste, swim > > with > > the current." > > > > Thanks, > > Robin Gabriel > > Director of Education > > Monticello > > > > To subscribe, change options, or unsubscribe, please see the instructions > at http://listlva.lib.va.us/archives/va-hist.html > To subscribe, change options, or unsubscribe, please see the instructions at http://listlva.lib.va.us/archives/va-hist.html