Richard Brinsley Sheridan Quotes

Nothing is so swift as calumny; nothing is more easily uttered; nothing more readily received; nothing more widely dispersed.

Slander is a shipwrack by a dry Tempest.

CALUMNUS, n. A graduate of the School for Scandal.

A man calumniated is doubly injured - first by him who utters the calumny, and then by him who believes it.

Slander is worse than cannibalism.

It is harder to kill a whisper than even a shouted calumny.

There have been so many things written about me that are untrue and horrifying.

Slander strongly and some will stick.

Hurl your calumnies boldly; something is sure to stick. Audacter calumniare, semper aliquid haeret

A single seed of fact will produce in a season or two a harvest of calumnies; but sensible men will pay no attention to them.

There is nothing which wings its flight so swiftly as calumny, nothing is uttered with more ease; nothing is listened to with more readiness, nothing disbursed more widely.

So fruitful is slander in variety of expedients to satiate as well as disguise itself. But if these smoother weapons cut so sore, what shall we say of open and unblushing scandal, subjected to no caution, tied down to no restraints?

Done to death by slanderous tongue

A man's reputation is not in his own keeping, but lies at the mercy of the profligacy of others. Calumny requires no proof.

The best calumnies are spiced with truth.

Slanderers do not hurt me because they do not hit me.

All of a sudden I found myself with the reputation of being a swinger and a home-wrecker. Beverly Hills wives were supposed to live in fear in case I cast my green orbs in the direction of their men. Ninety-nine per cent of this was total fabrication.

Quick-circulating slanders mirth afford; and reputation bleeds in every word.

Yet my humble capacity has not preserved me from calumnies.

Calumny is only the noise of madmen.

People have already dirtied my name too much.

Vilify, Vilify, some of it will always stick.

Infamous Greek calumnies

Surmise is the gossamer that malice blows on fair reputations, the corroding dew that destroys the choice blossom. Surmise is primarily the squint of suspicion, and suspicion is established before it is confirmed.

On Rumor's tongue continual slanders ride.