I'm a Stranger Here Myself (1938), I Have It On Good Authority
Context: There are two kinds of people who blow through life like a breeze,
And one kind is gossipers, and the other kind is gossipees,
And they certainly annoy each other,
But they certainly enjoy each other,
Yes, they pretend to flout each other,
But they couldn't do without each other...
“Gossip and reputation make sure that what comes around - a person who is cruel will find that the others are cruel hack to him, and a person who is kind will find others are kind in return. Gossip paired with reciprocity allow karma to work here on earth, not in the next life. As long as everyone plays tit-for-tat augmented by gratitude, vengeance, and gossip, the whole system should work beautifully.”
Source: The Happiness Hypothesis: Finding Modern Truth in Ancient Wisdom (2005), p. 55.
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Jonathan Haidt 28
American psychologist 1963Related quotes
“That most knowing of persons – gossip.”
Is qui scit plurimum, rumor.
Letter XLIII: On the relativity of fame, line 1.
Epistulae Morales ad Lucilium (Moral Letters to Lucilius), Letter XLIII: On the relativity of fame
On his father, Ronald Reagan, in Deborah Solomon, " The Son Also Rises http://www.nytimes.com/2004/06/27/magazine/27QUESTIONS.html", New York Times (27 June 2004).
“Gossip is charming! History is merely gossip. But scandal is gossip made tedious by morality.”
Cecil Graham http://books.google.com/books?id=8SzYgCNz-vwC&q="Gossip+is+charming+History+is+merely+gossip+But+scandal+is+gossip+made+tedious+by+morality"&pg=PT52#v=onepage, Act III
Variant: Scandal is gossip made tedious by morality.
Source: Lady Windermere's Fan (1892)
“Credulity lives next door to Gossip.”
"That what Everybody Says must be True".
Sketches from Life (1846)
Quoted in Gert Jonkers, "Gore Vidal, the Fantastic Man," Butt, No. 20 (7 April 2007)
2000s