There is nobody so weak of invention that he cannot make up some little stories to vilify his enemy.
—Joseph Addison (1672–1719) English Essayist, Poet, Playwright, Politician
Let nobody speak mischief of anybody.
—Plato (428 BCE–347 BCE) Greek Philosopher, Mathematician, Educator
Talkers will refrain from evil speaking when listeners refrain from evil hearing.
—Edward Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Baron Lytton (1803–73) British Novelist, Poet, Politician
He, who would free from malice pass his days, must live obscure, and never merit praise.
—John Gay (1685–1732) English Poet, Dramatist
The way to check slander is to despise it; attempt to overtake and refute it, and it will outrun you.
—Alexandre Dumas pere (1802–1870) French Novelist, Playwright
To slander is to murder.
—The Talmud Sacred Text of the Jewish Faith
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
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
Slander is the revenge of a coward, and dissimulation his defence.
—Samuel Johnson (1709–84) British Essayist
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
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
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
Guard thy mouth from uttering an unseemly word.
—The Talmud Sacred Text of the Jewish Faith
If any speak ill of thee, flee home to thy own conscience, and examine thy heart: if thou be guilty, it is a just correction; if not guilty, it is a fair instruction: make use of both; so shalt thou distil honey out of gall, and out of an open enemy create a secret friend.
—Francis Quarles (1592–1644) English Religious Poet
Believe nothing against another, but on good authority; nor report what may hurt another, unless it be a greater hurt to some other to conceal it.
—William Penn (1644–1718) American Entrepreneur, Philosopher, Political Leader
How frequently are the honesty and integrity of a man disposed of by a smile or shrug! How many good and generous actions have been sunk into oblivion by a distrustful look, or stamped with the imputation of bad motives, by a mysterious and seasonable whisper!
—Laurence Sterne (1713–68) Irish Anglican Novelist, Clergyman
A man’s merits should be fully stated in his absence, but only partially in his presence.
—The Talmud Sacred Text of the Jewish Faith
The slander of some people is as great a recommendation as the praise of others.
—Henry Fielding (1707–54) English Novelist, Dramatist
A generous confession disarms slander.
—Thomas Fuller (1608–61) English Cleric, Historian
The slanders poured down like Niagara. If you take into consideration the setting—the war and the revolution—and the character of the accused—revolutionary leaders of millions who were conducting their party to the sovereign power—you can say without exaggeration that July 1917 was the month of the most gigantic slander in world history.
—Leon Trotsky (1879–1940) Russian Marxist Revolutionary
Slander cannot make the subject of it either better or worse.—It may represent us in a false light, or place a likeness of us in a bad one, but we are always the same.—Not so the slanderer, for calumny always makes the calumniator worse, but the calumniated never.
—Charles Caleb Colton (c.1780–1832) English Clergyman, Aphorist
What is said of a man is nothing. The point is, who says it.
—Oscar Wilde (1854–1900) Irish Poet, Playwright
Slander expires at a good woman’s door.
—Danish Proverb
In nine times out of ten, the slanderous tongue belongs to a disappointed person.
—George Bancroft (1800–91) American Historian, Politician
The worthiest people are the most injured by slander, as it is the best fruit which the birds have been pecking at.
—Jonathan Swift (1667–1745) Irish Satirist
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
O!, many a shaft at random sent
Finds mark the archer little meant!
And many a word at random spoken
May soothe, or wound, a heart that ‘s broken!
—Walter Scott (1771–1832) Scottish Novelist, Poet, Playwright, Lawyer
If you are told that such an one speaks ill of you, make no defense against what was said, but answer, “He surely knew not my other faults, else he would not have mentioned these only!”
—Epictetus (55–135) Ancient Greek Philosopher
Be thou chaste as ice, and pure as snow, thou shalt not escape calumny.
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616) British Playwright
Rather be thrown into a fiery furnace than bring anyone to public shame.
—The Talmud Sacred Text of the Jewish Faith
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