Slander-mongers and those who listen to slander, if I had my way, would all be strung up, the talkers by the tongue, the listeners by the ears.
—Plautus (Titus Maccius Plautus) (c.250–184 BCE) Roman Comic Playwright
There is nothing which wings its flight so swiftly as calumny, nothing which is uttered with more ease; nothing is listened to with more readiness, nothing dispersed more widely.
—Cicero (106BCE–43BCE) Roman Philosopher, Orator, Politician, Lawyer
Guard thy mouth from uttering an unseemly word.
—The Talmud Sacred Text of the Jewish Faith
What is said of a man is nothing. The point is, who says it.
—Oscar Wilde (1854–1900) Irish Poet, Playwright
To slander is to murder.
—The Talmud Sacred Text of the Jewish Faith
That thou art blamed, shall not be thy defect; for slander’s mark was ever yet the fair; so thou be good, slander doth but approve thy worth the greater.
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616) British Playwright
Let nobody speak mischief of anybody.
—Plato (428 BCE–347 BCE) Greek Philosopher, Mathematician, Educator
Slander is the revenge of a coward, and dissimulation his defence.
—Samuel Johnson (1709–84) British Essayist
Be thou chaste as ice, and pure as snow, thou shalt not escape calumny.
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616) British Playwright
The man that dares traduce, because he can with safety to himself, is not a man.
—William Cowper (1731–1800) English Anglican Poet, Hymn writer
Teach thy tongue to say, “I do not know”.
—The Talmud Sacred Text of the Jewish Faith
It takes your enemy and your friend, working together, to hurt you to the heart; the one to slander you and the other to get the news to you.
—Mark Twain (1835–1910) American Humorist
Our disputants put me in mind of the cuttlefish that, when he is unable to extricate himself, blackens the water about him till he becomes invisible.
—Joseph Addison (1672–1719) English Essayist, Poet, Playwright, Politician
No might nor greatness can censure escape; back-wounding calumny the whitest virtue strikes; what king so strong, can tie the gall up in the slanderous tongue?
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616) British Playwright
I am about courting a girl I have had but little acquaintance with. How shall I come to a knowledge of her faults, and whether she has the virtues I imagine she has? Answer. Commend her among her female acquaintances.
—Benjamin Franklin (1706–90) American Political Leader, Inventor, Diplomat
The slanderer and the assassin differ only in the weapon they use; with the one it is the dagger, with the other the tongue.—The former is worse than the latter, for the last only kills the body, while the other murders the reputation and peace.
—Tryon Edwards (1809–94) American Theologian, Author
Close thine ear against him that opens his mouth against another.—If thou receive not his words, they fly back and wound him.—If thou receive them, they flee forward and wound thee.
—Francis Quarles (1592–1644) English Religious Poet
Have patience awhile; slanders are not long-lived.—Truth is the child of time; ere long she shall appear to vindicate thee.
—Immanuel Kant (1724–1804) Prussian German Philosopher, Logician
We cannot control the evil tongues of others, but a good life enables us to despise them.
—Cato the Elder (Marcus Porcius Cato) (234–149 BCE) Roman Statesman
The calumniator inflicts wrong by slandering the absent; and he who gives credit to the calumny before he knows it is true, is equally guilty.—The person traduced is doubly injured; by him who propagates, and by him who credits the slander.
—Herodotus (c.485–425 BCE) Ancient Greek Historian
No one is safe from slander. The best way is to pay no attention to it, but live in innocence and let the world talk.
—Moliere (1622–73) French Playwright
I will make a bargain with the Republicans. If they will stop telling lies about Democrats, we will stop telling the truth about them.
—Adlai Stevenson (1900–65) American Diplomat, Politician, Orator
Divines do rightly infer from the sixth commandment, that scandalizing one’s neighbor with false and malicious reports, whereby I vex his spirit, and consequently impair his healthy is a degree of murder.
—Walter Raleigh (1552–1618) English Courtier, Navigator, Poet
The slander of some people is as great a recommendation as the praise of others.
—Henry Fielding (1707–54) English Novelist, Dramatist
To vilify a great man is the readiest way in which a little man can himself attain greatness.
—Edgar Allan Poe (1809–49) American Poet
Every one in a crowd has the power to throw dirt; none out of ten have the inclination.
—William Hazlitt (1778–1830) English Essayist
Slander, whose edge is sharper than the sword; whose tongue outvenoms all the worms of Nile; whose breath rides on the posting winds, and doth belie all corners of the world.
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616) British Playwright
If a man could say nothing against a character but what he can prove, history could not be written.
—Samuel Johnson (1709–84) British Essayist
Next to the slanderer, we detest the bearer of the slander to our ears.
—Mary Hartwell Catherwood (1847–1902) American Novelist
A slanderer injures three persons: himself, him that receives the slander and the slandered person.
—The Talmud Sacred Text of the Jewish Faith
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