“It isn’t what they say about you, it’s what they whisper.” -Errol Flynn (1909 - 1959)
Knock, knock.
Who’s there?
Lena.
Lena, who?
Lena little closer, I want to tell you something.
“If you hear that someone is speaking ill of you, instead of trying to defend yourself, you should say: ‘He obviously does not know me very well, since there are so many other faults he could have mentioned.’” -Epictetus (C.E. 55 - C.E. 135): “The Enchiridion” (about C.E. 135)
“I used to hate being gossiped about. But now when I hear people talking about me, I console myself with what my mother once told me: ‘Birds peck at the best fruit’.” -Author Unknown
“Life would be a perpetual flea hunt if a man were obliged to run down all the innuendoes, inveracities, insinuations, and misrepresentations which are uttered against him.” -Henry Ward Beecher (1813 - 1887)
“Anyone can find the dirt in someone. Be the one that finds the gold.” -Author Unknown: attributed but not substantiated to “The Bible,” ‘Proverbs,’ chapter 11, verse 27
“If you are going to talk about someone else, talk about their virtues and good qualities. Didn’t Mary look great in that dress today? That is a great color on her. Wasn’t that a great meal she cooked? That is the way to have a positive conversation.” -Author Unknown
“Gossip travels fast and can wreck lives. I’m not driving that vehicle.” -Susan Gale
“I want to be around people who do things. I don’t want to be around people anymore who judge or talk about what people do. I want to be around people who dream, and support, and do things.” -Amy Poehler (born 1971)
“A life filled with silly social drama and gossip indicates that a person is disconnected from purpose and lacking meaningful goals. People on a path of purpose don’t have time for drama.” -Brendon Burchard (born 1977): “The Charge” (2012)
Polly: What tongue can wag and yet never utters a word of gossip?
Anna: The tongue of a shoe.
Riddle: What’s the difference between a gossip and a mirror?
Solution: One speaks without reflecting, and the other reflects without speaking.
“A man is likely to mind his own business when it is worth minding. When it is not, he takes his mind off his own meaningless affairs by minding other people’s business.” -Eric Hoffer (1902 - 1983): “The True Believer” (1951), Section 10
“The rumor grows as it goes.” [English translation]
“Fama crescit eundo.” [original Latin]
-Vergil (Publius Vergilius Maro, also known as Virgil)
A ‘quidnunc’ (pronounced kwid-nuhngk) is a person who is eager to know the latest news and gossip. The word is derived from the Latin phrase ‘Quid nunc?’ meaning ‘What now?’ Another name for a chronically nosy person is ‘busybody.’
“Rest satisfied with doing well, and leave others to talk of you as they please.” -Pythagoras (about 570 B.C.E. - about 495 B.C.E.): as attributed in Tryon Edwards (under pseudonym Everard Berkeley): “The World’s Laconics, Or, The Best Thoughts of the Best Authors” (1853), page 71; ‘laconics’ meaning ‘in few words’
Gossip
There is so much good in the worst of us,
And so much bad in the best of us,
That it hardly becomes any of us
To talk about the rest of us.
by Edward Wallis Hoch (1849 - 1925)
“If people speak ill of you, live so that no one will believe them.” -Plato (about 427 B.C.E. - about 347 B.C.E.)
A truth that’s told with bad intent
Beats all the lies you can invent.
-William Blake (1757 - 1827): “Auguries of Innocence” (1803); type of work: poem
“If evil be said of thee, and if it be true, correct thyself; if it be a lie, laugh at it.” -Epictetus (C.E. 55 - C.E. 135)
“I resolve to speak ill of no man whatever, not even in a matter of truth; but rather by some means excuse the faults I hear charged upon others, and upon proper occasions speak all the good I know of everybody.” -Ben Franklin (Benjamin ‘Ben’ Franklin (1706 - 1790))
“A guy or gal can’t keep people from having a bad opinion of him or her, but he or she can keep them from being right about it.” -Author Unknown
“Whoever gossips to you will gossip about you.” -Author Unknown: Spanish proverb
“Of what does not concern you say nothing, good or bad.” -Author Unknown:
Italian proverb
“The tongue is a small thing, but what enormous damage it can do.” -Author Unknown: as quoted in “The Bible” (TLB), ‘James,’ chapter 3, verse 5
Who Am I?
I am more deadly than the screaming shells from the howitzer.
I win without killing.
I tear down homes, break hearts, and wreck lives.
I travel on the wings of the wind.
No innocence is strong enough to intimidate me, no purity pure enough to daunt me.
I have no regard for truth, no respect for justice, no mercy for the defenseless.
My victims are as numerous as the sands of the sea, and often as innocent.
I never forget and never forgive.
My name is . . . gossip.
by Morgan Blake (William Morgan ‘Morgan’ Blake (1889 - 1953))
“People with narrow minds usually have broad tongues.” -Author Unknown
“Everybody’s business is nobody’s business.” -Thomas Babington Macaulay (1800 - 1859)
“It’s a pity, but owing to the pull of gravity, it takes less energy to open the mouth than to close it.” -Author Unknown
“Do not mind anything that anyone tells you about anyone else. Judge everyone and everything for yourself.” -Henry James (Henry James, Junior (1843 - 1916))
“You can tell more about a person by what he says about others than you can by what others say about him.” -Leo Aikman (James Leo ‘Leo’ Aikman (1908 - 1978))
“Never take pleasure in the misfortune of others.” -Author Unknown
“People will question all the good things they hear about you, but believe all the bad without a second thought.” -Author Unknown
“I hate to spread rumors - but what else can one do with them?” -Amanda Lear (born 1939)
“All truths are not to be told.” -George Herbert (1593 - 1633): “Jacula Prudentum” (“Outlandish Proverbs”) (1651)
“Gossip: A person who will never tell a lie if the truth will do more damage.” -Author Unknown
“To speak ill of others is a dishonest way of praising ourselves; let us be above such transparent egotism. If you can’t say good and encouraging things, say nothing. Nothing is often a good thing to do, and always a clever thing to say.” -Will Durant (William James ‘Will’ Durant (1885 - 1981)) and Ariel Durant (1898 - 1981): “We Have a Right to Be Happy Today” (7 June 1958), commencement address at the Webb School of Claremont, California, United States of America
“We probably wouldn’t worry about what people think of us if we could know how seldom they do.” -Olin Miller (1918 - 2002)
“If people talk behind your back, it only means you are two steps ahead.” -Author Unknown
“If you haven’t got anything nice to say about anybody, come sit next to me.” -Alice Roosevelt Longworth (Alice Lee Roosevelt Longworth (1884 - 1980))
“Make somebody happy today. Mind your own business.” -Ann Landers (pseudonym of Esther Pauline ‘Eppie’ Lederer (1918 - 2002))
“It is one of my sources of happiness never to desire a knowledge of other people’s business.” -Dolley Madison (Dolley Payne Todd Madison (1768 - 1849))
Gossip: A person with a keen sense of rumor.
The flying Rumors gather’d as they roll’d,
Scarce any Tale was sooner heard than told;
And all who told it, added something new,
And all who heard it, made Enlargements too,
In ev’ry Ear it spread, on ev’ry Tongue it grew.
-Alexander Pope (1688 - 1744)
“Empty vessels make the most sound.” -Author Unknown
What does the Bible say about gossip? “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.” -Author Unknown: “The Bible” (English Standard Version), ‘Exodus,’ chapter 20, verse 16
“A lot of problems in the world would disappear if we talked to each other instead of about each other.” -Author Unknown
“A rumor without a leg to stand on will get around some other way.” -John Tudor
●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●
UnSaying My Words
Once there were two boys that were very good friends. They explored, fished, and hunted together. They were both great athletes and well-liked by all in their village.
In their village, there was also a young girl that they both began to like, and they competed to be noticed by her. One of the boys, out of jealousy, told the girl that the other boy had done something very bad which would disgrace him and his family. This was completely untrue.
Afterwards, the boy felt ashamed of what he had done. He told the girl that he had lied and he apologized to his friend for what he had said.
But, as he walked around the village, he could hear others repeating the false words he had spoken about his friend. Very troubled by this, he went to a wise elderly man for advice.
“How can I undo this terrible thing I have done?” he asked. The wise man told him, “Shoot three ducks and three geese. Pull off all their feathers and put them in a leather bag. Bring the bag and the birds to me.” The boy did this. He gave the birds to the wise man and the wise man said, “Now, take the bag of feathers to the top of a high mountain, open it, and shake out all the feathers. Then return here.”
The boy climbed the mountain, released all the feathers into the wind, and returned to the wise man.
The wise man said, “Now, go back up the mountain and pick up every single feather you released and put them back in your bag.” The boy replied, “But, that is not possible. The feathers have blown far away. I can never recover all of them.”
The wise man said, “So it is with your words.”
Think about the impact of your words before you say them. You cannot take back something you have said.
by Author Unknown
●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●
“Gossip needn’t be false to be evil - there’s a lot of truth that shouldn’t be passed around.” -Frank A. Clark (Frank Atherton Clark (1911 - 1991))
“Ignore those people who are always talking behind your back - that’s where they belong, behind your back.” -Author Unknown
“Gossip is always a personal confession either of malice or imbecility; it is a low, frivolous, and too often a dirty business. - There are neighborhoods where it rages like a pest; churches are split in pieces by it, and neighbors made enemies for life. - Let the young avoid or cure it while they may.” -Josiah Gilbert Holland (1819 - 1881)
“People who have little to do are excessive talkers.” -Author Unknown
Oh, the things that she said,
To a person or two,
Until all of the town
Knew the dirt that she knew.
-Author Unknown
“Nobody raises his own reputation by lowering that of others.” -Author Unknown
“The best apology against false accusers is silence and sufferance, and honest deeds set against dishonest words.” -John Milton (1608 - 1674): “An Apology for Smectymnuus” (1642)
“Busy people are never busybodies.” -Ethel Watts Mumford (1876 - 1940)
“Drive away and never endure Tale-bearers: Whoever entertains thee with the Faults of others, designs to serve thee in the same Kind.” -Thomas Fuller (1654 - 1734): “Introductio ad prudentiam” (1727), Part II, number 2057
“Today’s gossip is tomorrow’s headline.” -Walter Winchell (1897 - 1972)
“For such is the weakness of human nature, alas, that evil is often more readily believed and spoken of another than good. But perfect men do not easily believe every tale that is told them, for they know that man’s nature is prone to evil, and his words to deception.” -Thomas à Kempis (about 1379 - 1471): “The Imitation of Christ” (about 1420), Book 1, chapter 4, ‘On Prudence in Action’
“We cannot control the evil tongues of others; but a good life enables us to disregard them.” -Cato the Elder (Marcus Porcius Cato (233 B.C.E. - 148 B.C.E.))
This is MFOL! . . . where everything old is new again . . . except old gossip . . . which never should have been told in the first place . . .
Knock, knock.
Who’s there?
Lena.
Lena, who?
Lena little closer, I want to tell you something.
“If you hear that someone is speaking ill of you, instead of trying to defend yourself, you should say: ‘He obviously does not know me very well, since there are so many other faults he could have mentioned.’” -Epictetus (C.E. 55 - C.E. 135): “The Enchiridion” (about C.E. 135)
“I used to hate being gossiped about. But now when I hear people talking about me, I console myself with what my mother once told me: ‘Birds peck at the best fruit’.” -Author Unknown
“Life would be a perpetual flea hunt if a man were obliged to run down all the innuendoes, inveracities, insinuations, and misrepresentations which are uttered against him.” -Henry Ward Beecher (1813 - 1887)
“Anyone can find the dirt in someone. Be the one that finds the gold.” -Author Unknown: attributed but not substantiated to “The Bible,” ‘Proverbs,’ chapter 11, verse 27
“If you are going to talk about someone else, talk about their virtues and good qualities. Didn’t Mary look great in that dress today? That is a great color on her. Wasn’t that a great meal she cooked? That is the way to have a positive conversation.” -Author Unknown
“Gossip travels fast and can wreck lives. I’m not driving that vehicle.” -Susan Gale
“I want to be around people who do things. I don’t want to be around people anymore who judge or talk about what people do. I want to be around people who dream, and support, and do things.” -Amy Poehler (born 1971)
“A life filled with silly social drama and gossip indicates that a person is disconnected from purpose and lacking meaningful goals. People on a path of purpose don’t have time for drama.” -Brendon Burchard (born 1977): “The Charge” (2012)
Polly: What tongue can wag and yet never utters a word of gossip?
Anna: The tongue of a shoe.
Riddle: What’s the difference between a gossip and a mirror?
Solution: One speaks without reflecting, and the other reflects without speaking.
“A man is likely to mind his own business when it is worth minding. When it is not, he takes his mind off his own meaningless affairs by minding other people’s business.” -Eric Hoffer (1902 - 1983): “The True Believer” (1951), Section 10
“The rumor grows as it goes.” [English translation]
“Fama crescit eundo.” [original Latin]
-Vergil (Publius Vergilius Maro, also known as Virgil)
A ‘quidnunc’ (pronounced kwid-nuhngk) is a person who is eager to know the latest news and gossip. The word is derived from the Latin phrase ‘Quid nunc?’ meaning ‘What now?’ Another name for a chronically nosy person is ‘busybody.’
“Rest satisfied with doing well, and leave others to talk of you as they please.” -Pythagoras (about 570 B.C.E. - about 495 B.C.E.): as attributed in Tryon Edwards (under pseudonym Everard Berkeley): “The World’s Laconics, Or, The Best Thoughts of the Best Authors” (1853), page 71; ‘laconics’ meaning ‘in few words’
Gossip
There is so much good in the worst of us,
And so much bad in the best of us,
That it hardly becomes any of us
To talk about the rest of us.
by Edward Wallis Hoch (1849 - 1925)
“If people speak ill of you, live so that no one will believe them.” -Plato (about 427 B.C.E. - about 347 B.C.E.)
A truth that’s told with bad intent
Beats all the lies you can invent.
-William Blake (1757 - 1827): “Auguries of Innocence” (1803); type of work: poem
“If evil be said of thee, and if it be true, correct thyself; if it be a lie, laugh at it.” -Epictetus (C.E. 55 - C.E. 135)
“I resolve to speak ill of no man whatever, not even in a matter of truth; but rather by some means excuse the faults I hear charged upon others, and upon proper occasions speak all the good I know of everybody.” -Ben Franklin (Benjamin ‘Ben’ Franklin (1706 - 1790))
“A guy or gal can’t keep people from having a bad opinion of him or her, but he or she can keep them from being right about it.” -Author Unknown
“Whoever gossips to you will gossip about you.” -Author Unknown: Spanish proverb
“Of what does not concern you say nothing, good or bad.” -Author Unknown:
Italian proverb
“The tongue is a small thing, but what enormous damage it can do.” -Author Unknown: as quoted in “The Bible” (TLB), ‘James,’ chapter 3, verse 5
Who Am I?
I am more deadly than the screaming shells from the howitzer.
I win without killing.
I tear down homes, break hearts, and wreck lives.
I travel on the wings of the wind.
No innocence is strong enough to intimidate me, no purity pure enough to daunt me.
I have no regard for truth, no respect for justice, no mercy for the defenseless.
My victims are as numerous as the sands of the sea, and often as innocent.
I never forget and never forgive.
My name is . . . gossip.
by Morgan Blake (William Morgan ‘Morgan’ Blake (1889 - 1953))
“People with narrow minds usually have broad tongues.” -Author Unknown
“Everybody’s business is nobody’s business.” -Thomas Babington Macaulay (1800 - 1859)
“It’s a pity, but owing to the pull of gravity, it takes less energy to open the mouth than to close it.” -Author Unknown
“Do not mind anything that anyone tells you about anyone else. Judge everyone and everything for yourself.” -Henry James (Henry James, Junior (1843 - 1916))
“You can tell more about a person by what he says about others than you can by what others say about him.” -Leo Aikman (James Leo ‘Leo’ Aikman (1908 - 1978))
“Never take pleasure in the misfortune of others.” -Author Unknown
“People will question all the good things they hear about you, but believe all the bad without a second thought.” -Author Unknown
“I hate to spread rumors - but what else can one do with them?” -Amanda Lear (born 1939)
“All truths are not to be told.” -George Herbert (1593 - 1633): “Jacula Prudentum” (“Outlandish Proverbs”) (1651)
“Gossip: A person who will never tell a lie if the truth will do more damage.” -Author Unknown
“To speak ill of others is a dishonest way of praising ourselves; let us be above such transparent egotism. If you can’t say good and encouraging things, say nothing. Nothing is often a good thing to do, and always a clever thing to say.” -Will Durant (William James ‘Will’ Durant (1885 - 1981)) and Ariel Durant (1898 - 1981): “We Have a Right to Be Happy Today” (7 June 1958), commencement address at the Webb School of Claremont, California, United States of America
“We probably wouldn’t worry about what people think of us if we could know how seldom they do.” -Olin Miller (1918 - 2002)
“If people talk behind your back, it only means you are two steps ahead.” -Author Unknown
“If you haven’t got anything nice to say about anybody, come sit next to me.” -Alice Roosevelt Longworth (Alice Lee Roosevelt Longworth (1884 - 1980))
“Make somebody happy today. Mind your own business.” -Ann Landers (pseudonym of Esther Pauline ‘Eppie’ Lederer (1918 - 2002))
“It is one of my sources of happiness never to desire a knowledge of other people’s business.” -Dolley Madison (Dolley Payne Todd Madison (1768 - 1849))
Gossip: A person with a keen sense of rumor.
The flying Rumors gather’d as they roll’d,
Scarce any Tale was sooner heard than told;
And all who told it, added something new,
And all who heard it, made Enlargements too,
In ev’ry Ear it spread, on ev’ry Tongue it grew.
-Alexander Pope (1688 - 1744)
“Empty vessels make the most sound.” -Author Unknown
What does the Bible say about gossip? “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.” -Author Unknown: “The Bible” (English Standard Version), ‘Exodus,’ chapter 20, verse 16
“A lot of problems in the world would disappear if we talked to each other instead of about each other.” -Author Unknown
“A rumor without a leg to stand on will get around some other way.” -John Tudor
●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●
UnSaying My Words
Once there were two boys that were very good friends. They explored, fished, and hunted together. They were both great athletes and well-liked by all in their village.
In their village, there was also a young girl that they both began to like, and they competed to be noticed by her. One of the boys, out of jealousy, told the girl that the other boy had done something very bad which would disgrace him and his family. This was completely untrue.
Afterwards, the boy felt ashamed of what he had done. He told the girl that he had lied and he apologized to his friend for what he had said.
But, as he walked around the village, he could hear others repeating the false words he had spoken about his friend. Very troubled by this, he went to a wise elderly man for advice.
“How can I undo this terrible thing I have done?” he asked. The wise man told him, “Shoot three ducks and three geese. Pull off all their feathers and put them in a leather bag. Bring the bag and the birds to me.” The boy did this. He gave the birds to the wise man and the wise man said, “Now, take the bag of feathers to the top of a high mountain, open it, and shake out all the feathers. Then return here.”
The boy climbed the mountain, released all the feathers into the wind, and returned to the wise man.
The wise man said, “Now, go back up the mountain and pick up every single feather you released and put them back in your bag.” The boy replied, “But, that is not possible. The feathers have blown far away. I can never recover all of them.”
The wise man said, “So it is with your words.”
Think about the impact of your words before you say them. You cannot take back something you have said.
by Author Unknown
●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●
“Gossip needn’t be false to be evil - there’s a lot of truth that shouldn’t be passed around.” -Frank A. Clark (Frank Atherton Clark (1911 - 1991))
“Ignore those people who are always talking behind your back - that’s where they belong, behind your back.” -Author Unknown
“Gossip is always a personal confession either of malice or imbecility; it is a low, frivolous, and too often a dirty business. - There are neighborhoods where it rages like a pest; churches are split in pieces by it, and neighbors made enemies for life. - Let the young avoid or cure it while they may.” -Josiah Gilbert Holland (1819 - 1881)
“People who have little to do are excessive talkers.” -Author Unknown
Oh, the things that she said,
To a person or two,
Until all of the town
Knew the dirt that she knew.
-Author Unknown
“Nobody raises his own reputation by lowering that of others.” -Author Unknown
“The best apology against false accusers is silence and sufferance, and honest deeds set against dishonest words.” -John Milton (1608 - 1674): “An Apology for Smectymnuus” (1642)
“Busy people are never busybodies.” -Ethel Watts Mumford (1876 - 1940)
“Drive away and never endure Tale-bearers: Whoever entertains thee with the Faults of others, designs to serve thee in the same Kind.” -Thomas Fuller (1654 - 1734): “Introductio ad prudentiam” (1727), Part II, number 2057
“Today’s gossip is tomorrow’s headline.” -Walter Winchell (1897 - 1972)
“For such is the weakness of human nature, alas, that evil is often more readily believed and spoken of another than good. But perfect men do not easily believe every tale that is told them, for they know that man’s nature is prone to evil, and his words to deception.” -Thomas à Kempis (about 1379 - 1471): “The Imitation of Christ” (about 1420), Book 1, chapter 4, ‘On Prudence in Action’
“We cannot control the evil tongues of others; but a good life enables us to disregard them.” -Cato the Elder (Marcus Porcius Cato (233 B.C.E. - 148 B.C.E.))
This is MFOL! . . . where everything old is new again . . . except old gossip . . . which never should have been told in the first place . . .
