Fake Jefferson on Facts
Cawthorn: It was Thomas Jefferson that said facts are stubborn things… pic.twitter.com/LokKpvmxij
— Acyn (@Acyn) June 24, 2021
“It was Thomas Jefferson that said facts are stubborn things,” Republican congressman Madison Cawthorn said during a speech in the U.S. House last summer.
Cawthorn, a far-right bigot and all-around terrible person, was maybe confusing Jefferson with John Adams, who did apparently use the phrase “facts are stubborn things,” in 1770, according to Quote Investigator. But Adams was far from the first person to say it.
The phrase dates back to at least 1731, as Quote Investigator points out, when Bernard Mandeville published the book, An Enquiry into the Origin of Honor, and the Usefulness of Christianity in War.
