Trying to squash a rumor is like trying to unring a bell.

Trying to squash a rumor is like trying to unring a bell.

There is nothing which cannot be perverted by being told badly.

There is nothing which cannot be perverted by being told badly.

Nature abhors a vacuum but why do most people hasten to fill in the blanks with garbage?

Nature abhors a vacuum but why do most people hasten to fill in the blanks with garbage?

Some report elsewhere whatever is told them; the measure of
fiction always increases, and each fresh narrator adds something read more

Some report elsewhere whatever is told them; the measure of
fiction always increases, and each fresh narrator adds something
to what he has heard.
[Lat., Hi narrata ferunt alio; mensuraque ficti
Crescit et auditus aliquid novus adjicit auctor.]

The flying rumours gather'd as the roll'd,
Scarce any tale was sooner heard than told;
And all read more

The flying rumours gather'd as the 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.

And withal they learn to be idle, wandering about from house to
house; and not only idle, but tattlers read more

And withal they learn to be idle, wandering about from house to
house; and not only idle, but tattlers also and busybodies,
speaking things which they ought not.

What some invent the rest enlarge.

What some invent the rest enlarge.

It (rumour) has a hundred tongues, a hundred mouths, a voice of
iron.
[Lat., Linguae centum sunt, oraque read more

It (rumour) has a hundred tongues, a hundred mouths, a voice of
iron.
[Lat., Linguae centum sunt, oraque centum
Ferrea vox.]

Rumor does not always err; it sometimes even elects a man.

Rumor does not always err; it sometimes even elects a man.