quotations about rumors
Rumors are nuisances, which it is wise not to molest, as they will die of their own stench.
CHATFIELD
attributed, Day's Collacon
The flying rumours gather'd as they roll'd,
Scarce any tale was sooner heard than told;
And all who told it added something new,
And all who heard it made enlargements too.
ALEXANDER POPE
Temple of Fame
Trying to dispel a rumor is like trying to unspread butter.
LLOYD CARY
attributed, Quote Unquote
You know what rumors are like--like a jar full of moths. Once they escape, they're all over the place.
RHYS BOWEN
Oh Danny Boy
Rumors can shape the public opinion of a society by affecting and coordinating the individual beliefs of its members.
ZHENG YOU XIA & LAILEI HUANG
"Emergence of Social Rumor: Modeling, Analysis, and Simulations", Computational Science
A rumor always contains information of considerable interest. The teller is therefore the center of attention; and the listener, by his eagerness, magnifies the teller's feelings of importance.
H. G. BARNETT
Innovation
Rumor is a certain kind of report widely spread, and untraceable to, unfixable on, any distinct author, originating in malignity, and constantly receiving accessions of strength from the credulity of the world of mankind.
QUINTILIAN
attributed, Day's Collacon
The subject of a rumor is always the last to hear it.
STEFAN ZWEIG
The Post Office Girl
Rumors are like the thistles that the devil and his servants sow in our fields, they stand there, and the better the soil is the bigger they grow, and they blossom and go to seed, and when the top is ripe, then comes the wind--no man knows whence it cometh or whither it goeth--and it carries the down from the thistle-top all over the field, and next year the whole field is full of them, and men stand there and scold, but no one will take hold and pull up the weeds, for fear of getting his fingers pricked.
FRITZ REUTER
Seed-Time and Harvest
There's a rumor going 'round about you
I'd quite like to find out if it's true
I am free baby, tonight, are you?
There's a rumor going 'round
PEP & RASH
"Rumors"
False rumors are like mistresses: more exciting initially than wives, but more deadly.
GARY NORTH
The Sinai Strategy
Malicious rumours can spread confusion. A careless remark can be as a cigarette butt casually tossed into the dumpster, smouldering until it bursts into flame and engulfs a neighborhood.
MARGARET ATWOOD
The Year of the Flood
Rumors are like a big onion--when peeled, all layers, all tears, and nothing there.
RAYMOND LUCZAK
Whispers of a Savage Sort
News told, rumors heard, truth implied, facts buried.
TOBA BETA
My Ancestor Was an Ancient Astronaut
[Rumor] has a hundred tongues, a hundred mouths, a voice of iron.
VIRGIL
Georgics
Rumors are like harpoons--once they go in, they're hard to pull out.
ANONYMOUS
U. S. News & World Report, 1996
Rumors are like wind in the belly--all noise and no nourishment.
ANONYMOUS
The Canadian Historical Review, vol. 23
Where do rumors come from?... I suppose the majority of rumors are a combination of leaked information and the astounding imaginations of numerous storytellers. And, of course, the hope that things aren't really as boring as they seem on the surface.
MAX FREI
The Stranger
It is rather important to understand the technique of rumors. The wise man does not scoff at them, for while they are often absurd, they are rarely baseless.
CHRISTOPHER MORLEY
"As To Rumors", Mince Pie: Adventures on the Sunny Side of Grub Street
Even the absurdest report may in nearly every instance be traced to an actual occurrence; and had there been no such actual occurrence, this preposterous misrepresentation of it would never have existed. Though the distorted or magnified image transmitted to us through the refracting medium of rumour, is utterly unlike the reality; yet in the absence of the reality there would have been no distorted or magnified image.
HERBERT SPENCER
First Principles