A generous confession disarms slander.

Every one in a crowd has the power to throw dirt; none out of ten have the inclination.

If a man could say nothing against a character but what he can prove, history could not be written.

I am about courting a girl I have had but little acquaintance with. How shall I come to a knowledge of her faults, and whether she has the virtues I imagine she has? Answer. Commend her among her female acquaintances.

It takes an enemy and a friend, working together, to hurt you to the heart. The one to slander you, and the other to get the news to you.

Be thou as chaste as ice, as pure as snow, thou shalt not escape calumny.

What is said of a man is nothing. The point is, who says it.

Backbite: To ''speak of a man as you find him'' when he can't find you.

Our disputants put me in mind of the cuttlefish that, when he is unable to extricate himself, blackens the water about him till he becomes invisible.

Let nobody speak mischief of anybody.