Criticism & Gossip

If some bit of gossip come
File the thing away
If a scandalous, spicy crumb
File the thing away
If suspicion comes to you
That your neighbor is not true
Let me tell you what to do
File the thing away
Do this for a little while
Then go out and burn the file

Gossip is like mud thrown on a clean wall

It may not stick but it always leaves a dirty mark

Believe not half you hear - repeat not half you believe

When you hear an evil report, halve it, then quarter it

And say nothing about the rest of it

Beware of a half-truth - you may have gotten the wrong half

Rumor is the most buoyant thing there is

It is easy to float one & hard to sink it

Gossip is one form of crime for which the law provides no punishment

The slanderer differs from the assassin only in that he murders the reputation instead of the body

The critical tongue gets its orders from an untrained eye

an unthoughtful mind, & an ungrateful heart

You'll never move up if you're continually running somebody down

It is well to remember that mansions in the sky cannot be built out of the mud thrown at others

A critical spirit comes from self-righteousness

If you know you're a mess yourself

you don't go around criticizing other people for their mistakes

but if you think you're so righteous

that's when you start picking on other people.

"I will speak ill of no man, not even in a matter of truth

but rather excuse the fault I hear & upon proper occasion

speak all the good I know of everybody." – Benjamin Franklin

(Author unknown)