Source: https://en.m.wikiquote.org/wiki/Slander
Timestamp: 2019-04-21 02:13:09+00:00

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In law, defamation (also called calumny, vilification, slander, and libel) is the communication of a statement that makes a false claim, expressively stated or implied to be factual, that may give an individual, business, product, group, government or nation a negative image. Slander refers to a malicious, false, and defamatory statement or report, while libel refers to any other form of communication such as written words or images. Most jurisdictions allow legal actions, civil and/or criminal, to deter various kinds of defamation and retaliate against groundless criticism.
Audacter calumniare, quia semper aliquid adhæret.
Hurl your calumnies boldly, for something is sure to stick.
Johannes Jacobus Manlius, Locorum Communium Collectanea (1562), paraphrasing Plutarch's characterisation of Medios of Larissa.
Sicut enim dici solet de calumnia, (For as it is usually said of slander,) Audacter calumniare, semper aliquid hæret.
Grovels, low muttering, at Sedition's shrine.
James Beattie, The Judgment of Paris (1765), stanza 109.
Pierre de Beaumarchais, Barbier de Seville (1773), Act III. 13.
Slander is a poison which extinguishes charity, both in the slanderer and in the persons who listen to it.
St. Bernard, reported in Josiah Hotchkiss Gilbert, Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers (1895), p. 214.
Edward Coke, 77 Eng. Rep. 250 (1605).
Fausto Cercignani in: Brian Morris, Simply Transcribed. Quotations from Fausto Cercignani, 2013, p. 7.
Fausto Cercignani in: Brian Morris, Simply Transcribed. Quotations from Writings by Fausto Cercignani, 2014, quote 38.
Fausto Cercignani in: Brian Morris, Simply Transcribed. Quotations from Writings by Fausto Cercignani, 2014, quote 39.
John Gay, Fables (1727), Fable XLV, "The Poet and the Rose".
Slander is compared to an arrow, not to any other handy weapon, such as a sword, etc., because like an arrow it kills at a distance. It can be uttered in Rome and have its baneful effect in Syria.
Like Theon (i.e. a calumniating disposition).
Horace, Epistles (c. 20 BC and 14 BC), Book I. 18. 82.
Peter Parker: Spider-Man wasn't terrorizing the city, he was trying to save it! It's slander!
J. Jonah Jameson: It is not. I resent that. Slander is spoken. In print, it's libel.
Persisting in a charge which one does not know to be true, is simply malicious slander.
If you think you can, by slandering a woman make her love you, or by vilifying a man make him vote with you, go on and try it.
Abraham Lincoln, rejecting complaint about Montgomery Blair, Postmaster-General, in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919); John Hay, Abraham Lincoln: Complete Works (1907), phrase in letter to Edwin Stanton, July 14, 1864; John Hay, Abraham Lincoln: A History (1890).
This is not a book. This is libel, slander, defamation of character. This is not a book, in the ordinary sense of the word. No, this is a prolonged insult, a gob of spit in the face of Art, a kick in the pants to God, Man, Destiny, Time, Love, Beauty … what you will.
Henry Miller, Tropic of Cancer (1934).
Thomas Moore, A Case of Libel, Odes on Cash, Corn, etc; reported in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922).
Slander, the foulest whelp of Sin.
Robert Pollok, The Course of Time (published 1827), Book iv, line 725.
Alexander Pope, The Odyssey of Homer (1725), Book VIII, line 432.
Ptahhotep, The Maxims of Ptahhotep (c. 2350 BC), Maxim no. 23.
Forever housed where it gets possession.
William Shakespeare, The Comedy of Errors (c. 1592-94), Act III, scene 1, line 105.
William Shakespeare, "Pisanio" in Cymbeline, Act III, scene 4, line 35.
William Shakespeare, Hamlet (1600-02), Act I, scene 3, line 38.
William Shakespeare, Hamlet (1600-02), Act II, scene 1, line 138.
William Shakespeare, The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark (1602), Act IV, scene 1.
William Shakespeare, Measure for Measure (1603), Act III, scene 2, line 146.
William Shakespeare, Much Ado About Nothing (1598-99), Act III, scene 1, line 85.
William Shakespeare, Much Ado About Nothing (1598-99), Act V, scene 1, line 88.
William Shakespeare, "Claudio" in Much Ado About Nothing (c. 1598-1599), Act V, scene 3, line 3.
Have not devis'd this slander.
William Shakespeare, Othello (c. 1603), Act IV, scene 2, line 130.
Pierc'd to the soul with slander's venom'd spear.
William Shakespeare, Richard II (c. 1595), Act I, scene 1, line 170.
William Shakespeare, The Two Gentlemen of Verona (1590s), Act III, scene 2, line 46.
Which, slanderer, he imitation calls.
William Shakespeare, Troilus and Cressida (c. 1602), Act I, scene 3, line 149.
Virtue itself;—these shrugs, these hums, and ha's.
William Shakespeare, The Winter's Tale (c. 1610-11), Act II, scene 1, line 73.
Which is a mask without it.
Percy Bysshe Shelley, The Cenci (1819).
Silence to man and prayer to God are the best cures for the evil of slander.
Charles Spurgeon in Treasury of David on Psalm 120:1.
The eyes of the slanderer always move around as shiftily as a spindle. You should never remain in his presence; his intentions should not be allowed to have an effect on you.
Mark Twain, Following the Equator (1897), Chapter 45.
Mark Twain, On the Decay of the Art of Lying.
Awake! (1984), 8th of December p.9.
Alexander von Humboldt (seeing a newspaper containing slanderous falsehoods against Jefferson on the President's desk) : Why do you not have the fellow hung who dares to write these abominable lies?
Thomas Jefferson : What! hang the guardians of the public morals? No, sir, — rather would I protect the spirit of freedom which dictates even that degree of abuse. Put that paper into your pocket, my good friend, carry it with you to Europe, and when you hear any one doubt the reality of American freedom, show them that paper, and tell them where you found it.
Jefferson : Let their actions refute such libels. Believe me, virtue is not long darkened by the clouds of calumny; and the temporary pain which it causes is infinitely overweighed by the safety it insures against degeneracy in the principles and conduct of public functionaries. When a man assumes a public trust, he should consider himself as public property.
Quotes reported in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 714-15.
There are * * * robberies that leave man or woman forever beggared of peace and joy, yet kept secret by the sufferer.
George Eliot, Felix Holt. Introduction.
Homer, The Odyssey, Book VIII, line 43. Pope's translation.
If slander be a snake, it is a winged one—it flies as well as creeps.
Douglas Jerrold, Specimens of Jerrold's Wit, Slander.
Ben Jonson, Catiline, Act III, scene 1.
Ben Jonson, Sejanus, Act I, scene 1.
Plautus, Persa, Act III, scene 1. Riley's translation.
Your tittle-tattlers, and those who listen to slander, by my good will should all be hanged—the former by their tongues, the latter by the ears.
Plautus, Pseudolus, I. 5. 12.
James Thomson, Liberty, Part IV, line 609.
Quotes reported in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 89.
Cicero, Oratio Pro Cnœo Plancio, XXIII.
A nickname a man may chance to wear out; but a system of calumny, pursued by a faction, may descend even to posterity. This principle has taken full effect on this state favorite.
Isaac D'Israeli, Amenities of Literature, The First Jesuits in England.
Quotes reported in James William Norton-Kyshe, The Dictionary of Legal Quotations (1904), p. 159.
Everything printed or written, which reflects on the character of another, and is published without lawful justification or excuse, is a libel, whatever the intention may have been.
Parke, B., O'Brien v. Clement (1846), 15 M. & W. 437.
It is not the truth or falsehood that makes a libel, but the temper with which it is published.
Best, J., King v. Burdett (1820), 1 St. Tr. (N. S.) 49.
It was the rule of Holt, Chief Justice, to make words actionable whenever they sound to the disreputation of the person of whom they were spoken; and this was also Hale's and Twieden's rule; and I think it a very good rule.
Fortescue, J., Button v. Heyward (1722), 8 Mod. 24. This is in reference perhaps to Baker v. Pearce, 6 Mod. 23.
Libelling against a private man is a moral offence; but when it is against a government, it tends to the destruction of it.
Holt, C.J., Rex v. Beare (1698), 1 Raym. 418. For the antiquity of this notion, see Vinnius, 741, by the law of the twelve tables.
Best, J., King v. Burdett (1820), 1 St. Tr. (N. S.) 117.
His reputation is his property, and, if possible, more valuable than other property.
Malins, V.-C., Dixon v. Holden (1869), L. R. 7 Eq. 492.
William Shakespeare, "Othello" (Iago), Act III., Scene 3.

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