GOSSIP QUOTES II
quotations about gossip
There are different kinds of gossips: the pious, the mischievous, the vicious, the dangerous, and a host of others; but it matters not what garb they assume, they are a useless class of people, being a burden to themselves, and the plague-spots of social life.
JAMES ELLIS
attributed, Day's Collacon
Of course, not all gossip is purposely harmful in its intention. The deliberate, creative gossip is probably rare. In fact, gossip usually represents the need of a bored world to be entertained at any price, the restless ennui that must be forever talking or listening to fill the vacuity of its existence, to supply its lack of really vital interests. This demand naturally creates a supply of idle talkers, whose social existence depends on their ability to provide the entertainment desired; and nothing would seem to be so well-pleasing to the idle human ear as the whisper that discredits, or the story that ridicules, the distinction it envies, and the goodness it cannot understand.
RICHARD LE GALLIENNE
"The Psychology of Gossip", Vanishing Roads and Other Essays
Gossip isn't scandal, and it's not merely malicious. It's chatter about the human race by lovers of the same.
PHYLLIS MCGINLEY
"A New Year and No Resolutions," Woman's Home Companion, Jan. 1957
If you wish to cultivate a gossipping, meddling, censorious spirit in your children, be sure, when they come home from church, a visit, or any other place where you do not accompany them, to ply them with questions concerning what everybody else wore, how everybody looked, and what everybody said and did.
KATE FIELD
attributed, Day's Collacon
Men return from the facilities and seem embarrassed to discuss where they've been. They never hear any gossip. Never see any celebrities. Never find out if the fish on the menu is frozen or that the blond waitress is married to the drummer, who is jealous. To women, a rest room is an adventure.
ERMA BOMBECK
Forever, Erma
Gossip is a sort of smoke that comes from the dirty tobacco pipes of those who diffuse it: it proves nothing but the bad taste of the smoker.
GEORGE ELIOT
Daniel Deronda
The victims of gossip may, if they feel so inclined, feel flattered rather than angered by its attentions; for, at all events, it argues their possession of gifts and qualities transcending the common.
RICHARD LE GALLIENNE
"The Psychology of Gossip", Vanishing Roads and Other Essays
The uniform tenor of a man's life furnishes better evidence of what he has said or done on any particular occasion than the word of any enemy.
THOMAS JEFFERSON
letter to De Witt Clinton, Dec. 31, 1803
Gossip is like the dessert table at an Italian wedding: people know they shouldn't indulge, but it's there, and it's free.
ELIZABETH SCALIA
Little Sins Mean a Lot
Memory deficiency got so bad with me, I forgot to repeat a piece of gossip I swore on my Grandmother's Grave never to divulge.
ERMA BOMBECK
Aunt Emma's Cope Book
Gossips should not marry.
THEODORUS
attributed, Day's Collacon
I never gossip. I observe. And then relay my observations to practically everyone.
GAIL CARRIGER
Timeless
All literature is gossip.
TRUMAN CAPOTE
Playboy interview, 1976
The widespread interest in gossip is inspired, not by a love of knowledge but by malice: no one gossips about other people's secret virtues, but only about their secret vices. Accordingly most gossip is untrue, but care is taken not to verify it. Our neighbour's sins, like the consolations of religion, are so agreeable that we do not stop to scrutinise the evidence closely.
BERTRAND RUSSELL
On Education
Those base men who speak of the secret faults of others, destroy themselves like the serpents in ant-hills.
CHANAKYA
Vridda-Chanakya
That's all civilization is, a giant mill grinding out gossip.
KIM STANLEY ROBINSON
The Years of Rice and Salt
In all societies, there are men and women who are vaguely known as gossips; but they are seldom caught red-handed. For one thing, they do not often speak at first hand. They profess only to repeat something that they have heard--something, they are careful to add, which is probably quite untrue, and which they themselves do not believe for a moment.
RICHARD LE GALLIENNE
"The Psychology of Gossip", Vanishing Roads and Other Essays
Gossip has been described as halitosis of the mind.
CROFT M. PENTZ
The Complete Book of Zingers
Scandal is gossip made tedious by morality.
OSCAR WILDE
Lady Windermere's Fan
Gossip is like a tornado. It destroys everything in its path. It destroys trust. Unity. Reputations. Friendships. Hope. Smiles. And futures.
HEATHER JAMISON
Keeping It Real