A bad reputation is easy to come by, painful to bear, and difficult to clear.

Scandal begins where the police leave off.

One of the things men should most strive to do is win a good reputation and see that no one questions it.

In the country gossip is a pastime; in the city it is a warfare.

Reputation, like beavers and cloaks, shall last some people twice the time of others.

Journalists belong in the gutter, because that is where the ruling classes throw their guilty secrets.

The history of the world is the record of the weakness, frailty, and death of public opinion.

A cruel story runs on wheels, and every hand oils the wheels as they run.

The slander of some people is as great a recommendation as the praise of others.

Gossip is the opiate of the oppressed.

While gossip among women is universally ridiculed as low and trivial, gossip among men, especially if it is about women, is called theory, or idea, or fact.