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
Rather be thrown into a fiery furnace than bring anyone to public shame.
—The Talmud Sacred Text of the Jewish Faith
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
Listen not to a tale-bearer or slanderer, for he tells thee nothing out of good will; but as he discovereth of the secrets of others, so he will of thine in turn.
—Socrates (469BCE–399BCE) Ancient Greek Philosopher
Four shall not enter Paradise; the scoffer, the liar, the hypocrite, and the slanderer.
—The Talmud Sacred Text of the Jewish Faith
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
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
In nine times out of ten, the slanderous tongue belongs to a disappointed person.
—George Bancroft (1800–91) American Historian, Politician
Slugs crawl and crawl over our cabbages, like the world’s slander over a good name. You may kill them, it is true, but there is the slime.
—Douglas William Jerrold (1803–57) English Writer, Dramatist, Wit
Talkers will refrain from evil speaking when listeners refrain from evil hearing.
—Edward Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Baron Lytton (1803–73) British Novelist, Poet, Politician
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
Teach thy tongue to say, “I do not know”.
—The Talmud Sacred Text of the Jewish Faith
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
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
Every one in a crowd has the power to throw dirt; none out of ten have the inclination.
—William Hazlitt (1778–1830) English Essayist
Let nobody speak mischief of anybody.
—Plato (428 BCE–347 BCE) Ancient Greek Philosopher, Mathematician, Educator
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
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
He, who would free from malice pass his days, must live obscure, and never merit praise.
—John Gay (1685–1732) English Poet, Dramatist
What is said of a man is nothing. The point is, who says it.
—Oscar Wilde (1854–1900) Irish Poet, Playwright
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
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
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
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
If slander be a snake, it is a winged one. It flies as well as creeps.
—Douglas William Jerrold (1803–57) English Writer, Dramatist, Wit
To slander is to murder.
—The Talmud Sacred Text of the Jewish Faith
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
A generous confession disarms slander.
—Thomas Fuller (1608–61) English Cleric, Historian
Slander expires at a good woman’s door.
—Danish Proverb
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