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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Have patience awhile; slanders are not long-lived. Truth is the child of time; ere long she shall appear to vindicate read more
Have patience awhile; slanders are not long-lived. Truth is the child of time; ere long she shall appear to vindicate thee.
Soft-buzzing Slander; silly moths that eat
An honest name.
Soft-buzzing Slander; silly moths that eat
An honest name.
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.
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.
A generous heart repairs a slanderous tongue.
A generous heart repairs a slanderous tongue.
I hate the man who builds his name on the ruins of another's fame.
I hate the man who builds his name on the ruins of another's fame.
. . . For slander lives upon succession,
For ever housed where it gets possession.
. . . For slander lives upon succession,
For ever housed where it gets possession.
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.
Your tittle-tattlers, and those who listen to slander, by my good
will should all be hanged--the former by their read more
Your tittle-tattlers, and those who listen to slander, by my good
will should all be hanged--the former by their tongues, the
latter by the ears.
[Lat., Homines qui gestant, quique auscultant crimina,
Si meo arbitratu liceat, omnes pendeant,
Gestores linguis, auditores auribus.]
