Fake Jefferson on Style vs Principle
“In matters of style, swim with the current; in matters of principle, stand like a rock,” Jefferson supposedly said.
Eric Brakey, the spokesperson for the group Young Americans For Liberty and a former state senator in Maine, tweeted this fake Jefferson quote on the anniversary of the January 6 insurrection. But Jefferson never said it.
This quote dates back to the late 19th century but was often referred to as an
“old adage,” according to the Jefferson fact-checkers at Monticello. Sometime around 1973, people started attributing the quote to Jefferson, and the rest is recent history.
