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

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

Dad, I'm in some trouble. There's been an accident and you're going to hear all sorts of things about me read more

Dad, I'm in some trouble. There's been an accident and you're going to hear all sorts of things about me from now on. Terrible things.

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?

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.

Rumor is not always wrong

Rumor is not always wrong

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

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

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.

What some invent the rest enlarge.

What some invent the rest enlarge.