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Donald J. Trump on Sunday morning used his Twitter feed to post a quote attributed to Benito Mussolini, the founder of the fascist movement, from a parody account. The tweet compared the Italian dictator to Mr. Trump, the Republican front-runner for the presidential nomination.

The tweet was posted by Mr. Trump’s account at 6:13 a.m.

"@ilduce2016: “It is better to live one day as a lion than 100 years as a sheep.” – @realDonaldTrump #MakeAmericaGreatAgain" — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 28, 2016

The @ilduce2016 feed is a parody account, with a profile picture that is a composite of Mr. Trump’s hair and Mussolini’s face. “Il Duce” was how Mussolini was known by Italians.

Some conservative critics of Mr. Trump’s rhetoric about use of power, both in the United States and abroad, have suggested that his declarations fall along the lines of fascist oratory.

Mr. Trump is an avid Twitter user, and he often goes on posting sprees in the middle of the night or early in the morning. At times, his retweets have been questionable, including posts from accounts associated with white nationalists.

The website Gawker claimed credit for creating the parody account about Il Duce (which translates to “the leader” in Italian.)

Mr. Trump, in an interview on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” said he was unaware that it had been a quote from Mussolini. But he didn’t seem to care.

“It’s a very good quote,” said Mr. Trump. “I didn’t know who said it, but what difference does it make if it was Mussolini or somebody else — it’s a very good quote.”

Asked whether he wanted to be associated with Mr. Mussolini, Mr. Trump replied, ‘No, I want to be associated with interesting quotes.” And he added, “Hey, it got your attention, didn’t it?”