Every rumor is believed against the unfortunate.
[Lat., Ad calamitatem quilibet rumor valet.]

Every rumor is believed against the unfortunate.
[Lat., Ad calamitatem quilibet rumor valet.]

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.

Straightway throughout the Libyan cities flies rumor;--the report
of evil things than which nothing is swifter; it flourishes by read more

Straightway throughout the Libyan cities flies rumor;--the report
of evil things than which nothing is swifter; it flourishes by
its very activity and gains new strength by its movements; small
at first through fear, it soon raises itself aloft and sweeps
onward along the earth. Yet its head reaches the clouds. . . . A
huge and horrid monster covered with many feathers: and for
every plume a sharp eye, for every pinion a biting tongue.
Everywhere its voices sound, to everything its ears are open.
[Lat., Extemplo Libyae magnas it Fama per urbes:
Fama malum quo non velocius ullum;
Mobilitate viget, viresque acquirit eundo;
Parva metu primo; mox sese attollit in auras,
Ingrediturque solo, et caput inter nubilia condit.
. . . .
Monstrum, horrendum ingens; cui quot sunt corpore plumae
Tot vigiles oculi subter, mirabile dictu,
Tot linquae, totidem ora sonant, tot subrigit aures.]

Nobody believes a rumor here in Washington until it's officially denied.

Nobody believes a rumor here in Washington until it's officially denied.

The rolling fictions grow in strength and size,
Each author adding to the former lies.

The rolling fictions grow in strength and size,
Each author adding to the former lies.

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.]

I will be gone,
That pitiful rumor may report my flight
To consolate thine ear.

I will be gone,
That pitiful rumor may report my flight
To consolate thine ear.

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?

Idle rumors were also added to well-founded apprehensions.
[Lat., Vana quoque ad veros accessit fama timores.]

Idle rumors were also added to well-founded apprehensions.
[Lat., Vana quoque ad veros accessit fama timores.]