That thou art blamed shall not be thy defect,
For slander's mark was ever yet the fair;
The ornament of beauty is suspect,
A crow that flies in heaven's sweetest air.
So thou be good, slander doth but approve
Thy worth the greater, being wooed of time;
For canker vice the sweetest buds doth love,
And thou present'st a pure unstained prime.
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The worthiest people are the most injured by slander, as is the best fruit which the birds have been pecking read more
The worthiest people are the most injured by slander, as is the best fruit which the birds have been pecking at.
To murder character is as truly a crime as to murder the body: the tongue of the slanderer is brother read more
To murder character is as truly a crime as to murder the body: the tongue of the slanderer is brother to the dagger of the assassin.
Done to death by slanderous tongues
Was the Hero that here lies.
Done to death by slanderous tongues
Was the Hero that here lies.
Slanders are like flies, that pass all over a man's good parts to light on his sores.
Slanders are like flies, that pass all over a man's good parts to light on his sores.
Never throw mud. You may miss your mark, but you will have dirty hands.
Never throw mud. You may miss your mark, but you will have dirty hands.
If I can do it
By aught that I can speak in his dispraise,
She shall not read more
If I can do it
By aught that I can speak in his dispraise,
She shall not long continue love to him.
And truly, I'll devise some honest slanders
To stain my cousin with. One doth not know
How read more
And truly, I'll devise some honest slanders
To stain my cousin with. One doth not know
How much an ill word may empoison liking.
I will be hanged if some eternal villain,
Some busy and insinuating rogue,
Some cogging, cozening slave, read more
I will be hanged if some eternal villain,
Some busy and insinuating rogue,
Some cogging, cozening slave, to get some office,
Have not devised this slander.
There are . . . robberies that leave man or woman forever
beggared of peace and joy, yet kept read more
There are . . . robberies that leave man or woman forever
beggared of peace and joy, yet kept secret by the sufferer.
