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.

Where it concerns himself,
Who's angry at a slander, makes it true.

Where it concerns himself,
Who's angry at a slander, makes it true.

That thou art blamed shall not be thy defect,
For slander's mark was ever yet the fair;
read more

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.

Cut
Men's throats with whisperings.

Cut
Men's throats with whisperings.

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.

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.]

A generous heart repairs a slanderous tongue.

A generous heart repairs a slanderous tongue.

A slander is like a hornet; if you can't kill it dead the first time, better not strike at it.

A slander is like a hornet; if you can't kill it dead the first time, better not strike at it.

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.