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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I hate the man who builds his name
On ruins of another's fame.
I hate the man who builds his name
On ruins of another's fame.
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.
God knows I loved my niece,
And she is dead, slandered to death by villains,
That dare read more
God knows I loved my niece,
And she is dead, slandered to death by villains,
That dare as well answer a man indeed
As I dare take a serpent by the tongue.
Boys, apes, braggarts, Jacks, milksops!
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.
If slander be a snake, it is a winged one--it flies as well as
creeps.
If slander be a snake, it is a winged one--it flies as well as
creeps.
Slander is the revenge of a coward, and dissimulation his defense
Slander is the revenge of a coward, and dissimulation his defense
I am disgraced, impeached, and baffled here;
Pierced to the soul with slander's venomed spear,
The which read more
I am disgraced, impeached, and baffled here;
Pierced to the soul with slander's venomed spear,
The which no balm can cure but his heart-blood
Which breathed this poison.
Slander is the revenge of a coward, and dissimulation of his defense.
Slander is the revenge of a coward, and dissimulation of his defense.
Soft-buzzing Slander; silly moths that eat
An honest name.
Soft-buzzing Slander; silly moths that eat
An honest name.
