Defamation

"…repeating defamation taken from another source is still defamation. The fact that the victim has not sued others who spread the defamation first does not authorize anybody to repeat their slanderous statements."

"Silence to man and prayer to God are the best cures for the evil of slander."

"For 32 years (1884-1916) the president of the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society was Charles Taze Russell. He was a fearless preacher and a prolific writer. He boldly denounced and refuted the Trinity doctrine, the immortal soul and eternal hellfire teachings. At one time Russell’s sermons were being featured every week in some 3,000 newspapers in the United States, Canada and Europe. Consequently he was under constant attack, mainly by the clergy. Many of his enemies stooped to personal attacks in an attempt to discredit him. How did he view these slanderers? He once said: “If you stop to kick at every dog that barks at you, you’ll never get very far.”"

"Not all defamation is art; some is incitement."

"Every libel, which is called famosus libellus, is made either against a private man, or against a public person. If it be against a private man, it deserves a severe punishment."

"Woe unto every slandering traducer."

"When squint-eyed Slander plies the unhallowd tongue, From poisond maw when Treason weaves his line, And Muse apostate (infamy to song!) Grovels, low muttering, at Seditions shrine."

"Slander is a poison which extinguishes charity, both in the slanderer and in the persons who listen to it."

"Or he might say: Having abandoned slander, the recluse Gotama abstains from slander. He does not repeat elsewhere what he has heard here in order to divide others from the people here, nor does he repeat here what he has heard elsewhere in order to divide these from the people there. Thus he is a reconciler of those who are divided and a promoter of friendships. Rejoicing, delighting, and exulting in concord, he speaks only words that are conducive to concord."

"Truth is generally the best vindication against slander."

"I will be hangd, if some eternal villain, Some busy and insinuating rogue, Some cogging, cozening slave, to get some office, Have not devisd this slander."

"A nickname a man may chance to wear out; but a system of calumny, pursued by a faction, may descend even to posterity. This principle has taken full effect on this state favorite."