quotations about rumors
He who unveils rumors enjoys greater prestige than a simple public entertainer.
JEAN-NOEL KAPFERER
Rumors: Uses, Interpretations, and Images
Rumors are nearly as old as human history, but with the rise of the Internet, they have become ubiquitous. In fact we are now awash in them. False rumors are especially troublesome; they impose real damage on individuals and institutions, and they often resist correction. They can threaten careers, policies, public officials, and sometimes even democracy itself.
CASS R. SUNSTEIN
On Rumors
Rumors are not news; but they sometimes foreshadow news.
ERNEST HAMLIN ABBOTT
The Outlook, September 15, 1915
Rumors can shape the public opinion of a society by affecting and coordinating the individual beliefs of its members.
ZHENG YOU XIA & LAILEI HUANG
"Emergence of Social Rumor: Modeling, Analysis, and Simulations", Computational Science
There's a rumor going 'round about you
I'd quite like to find out if it's true
I am free baby, tonight, are you?
There's a rumor going 'round
PEP & RASH
"Rumors"
Rumor is a certain kind of report widely spread, and untraceable to, unfixable on, any distinct author, originating in malignity, and constantly receiving accessions of strength from the credulity of the world of mankind.
QUINTILIAN
attributed, Day's Collacon
The flying rumours gather'd as they 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.
ALEXANDER POPE
Temple of Fame
The subject of a rumor is always the last to hear it.
STEFAN ZWEIG
The Post Office Girl
A rumor always contains information of considerable interest. The teller is therefore the center of attention; and the listener, by his eagerness, magnifies the teller's feelings of importance.
H. G. BARNETT
Innovation
Rumors are like the thistles that the devil and his servants sow in our fields, they stand there, and the better the soil is the bigger they grow, and they blossom and go to seed, and when the top is ripe, then comes the wind--no man knows whence it cometh or whither it goeth--and it carries the down from the thistle-top all over the field, and next year the whole field is full of them, and men stand there and scold, but no one will take hold and pull up the weeds, for fear of getting his fingers pricked.
FRITZ REUTER
Seed-Time and Harvest
News told, rumors heard, truth implied, facts buried.
TOBA BETA
My Ancestor Was an Ancient Astronaut
False rumors are like mistresses: more exciting initially than wives, but more deadly.
GARY NORTH
The Sinai Strategy
Malicious rumours can spread confusion. A careless remark can be as a cigarette butt casually tossed into the dumpster, smouldering until it bursts into flame and engulfs a neighborhood.
MARGARET ATWOOD
The Year of the Flood
Rumors are like a big onion--when peeled, all layers, all tears, and nothing there.
RAYMOND LUCZAK
Whispers of a Savage Sort
[Rumor] has a hundred tongues, a hundred mouths, a voice of iron.
VIRGIL
Georgics
Rumors are like wind in the belly--all noise and no nourishment.
ANONYMOUS
The Canadian Historical Review, vol. 23
Where do rumors come from?... I suppose the majority of rumors are a combination of leaked information and the astounding imaginations of numerous storytellers. And, of course, the hope that things aren't really as boring as they seem on the surface.
MAX FREI
The Stranger
Rumors are like harpoons--once they go in, they're hard to pull out.
ANONYMOUS
U. S. News & World Report, 1996
The opinions of men depend very much on rumors; and they have a greater dread of an enemy who proclaims himself ready to begin the attack, than of one who merely professes his intention to defend himself against assaults, as they think that there will be then only an equality of danger.
THUCYDIDES
attributed, Day's Collacon
It is rather important to understand the technique of rumors. The wise man does not scoff at them, for while they are often absurd, they are rarely baseless.
CHRISTOPHER MORLEY
"As To Rumors", Mince Pie: Adventures on the Sunny Side of Grub Street