GOSSIP QUOTES II

quotations about gossip

Gossip quote

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

Tags: Phyllis McGinley


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

Tags: Erma Bombeck


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


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


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

Tags: George Eliot


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

Tags: Thomas Jefferson


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

Tags: Erma Bombeck


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

Tags: Truman Capote


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

Tags: Bertrand Russell


Those base men who speak of the secret faults of others, destroy themselves like the serpents in ant-hills.

CHANAKYA

Vridda-Chanakya

Tags: 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

Tags: Oscar Wilde


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