Gossip Sayings and Quotes

Below you will find our collection of inspirational, wise, and humorous old gossip quotes, gossip sayings, and gossip proverbs, collected over the years from a variety of sources.

Anyone who will gossip to you, will gossip about you. unknown
Words have no wings but they can fly a thousand miles. Korean (on gossip)
Gossip is just a tool to distract people who have nothing better to do from feeling jealous of those few of us still remaining with noble hearts. Anna Godbersen
Believe nothing of what you hear and only half of what you see. unknown
Four horses cannot overtake the tongue. Chinese (on gossip)
It is easier to dam a river than to stop gossip. Moro (Filipino) (on gossip)
Not everything you hear is good for talk. Japanese (on gossip)
The house of the loud talker, leaks. African proverb Zulu Tribe
You can't sew buttons on your neighbor's mouth. Russian (on gossip)
What you don't see with your eyes, don't witness with your mouth. Jewish Proverb
What is told in the ear of a man is often heard 100 miles away. Chinese Proverb
Gossip is saying behind their back what you would not say to their face. Flattery is saying to their face what you would not say behind their back. unknown
If you reveal your secrets to the wind, you should not blame the wind for revealing them to the trees. Khalil Gibran
If it's very painful for you to criticize your friends, you're safe in doing it. But if you take the slightest pleasure in it, that's the time to hold your tongue. Alice Duer Miller
A cruel story runs on wheels, and every hand oils the wheels as they run. Ouida
It is just as cowardly to judge an absent person as it is wicked to strike a defenseless one. Only the ignorant and narrow-minded gossip, for they speak of persons instead of things. Lawrence G. Lovasik
Gossip is when you hear something you like about someone you don't. Earl Wilson
Gossip is what no one claims to like, but everybody enjoys. Joseph Conrad
Gossip needn't be false to be evil - there's a lot of truth that shouldn't be passed around. Frank A. Clark
Great minds discuss ideas. Average minds discuss events. Small minds discuss people. Henry Thomas Buckle
Be less curious about people and more curious about ideas. Marie Curie
It is always assumed by the empty-headed, who chatter about themselves for want of something better, that people who do not discuss their affairs openly must have something to hide. Honoré de Balzac
Often those that criticise others reveal what he himself lacks. Shannon L. Alder
Insecure people only eclipse your sun because they're jealous of your daylight and tired of their dark, starless nights. Shannon L. Alder
Gossip is sometimes referred to as halitosis of the mind. unknown
He gossips habitually; he lacks the common wisdom to keep still that deadly enemy of man, his own tongue Mark Twain
We cannot control the evil tongues of others; but a good life enables us to disregard them. Cato the Elder
Gossip is a sort of smoke that comes from the dirty tobacco-pipes of those who diffuse it; it proves nothing but the bad taste of the smoker. George Eliot
How much time he gains who does not look to see what his neighbour says or does or thinks, but only at what he does himself, to make it just and holy. Marcus Aurelius
Doesn't matter what you do, or how you do it, your neighbors are gonna talk about you anyway. Felder Rushing
If I maintain my silence about my secret it is my prisoner... if I let it slip from my tongue, I am its prisoner. Arthur Schopenhauer
Discretion of speech is more than eloquence; and to speak agreeably to him with whom we deal is more than to speak in good words or in good order. Francis Bacon
It isn't what they say about you, it's what they whisper. Errol Flynn
Some secrets are fires so scorching, the only way to quench the burn is to tell someone. Terri Guillemets
Who brings a tale takes two away. Irish Proverb
Every man is surrounded by a neighborhood of voluntary spies. Jane Austen
It is presumptuous to draw conclusions about a person from what one has heard. Jude Morgan
The worst thing about talk ... is that there's no way to lay it to rest. Every fresh breeze brings a new speculation. Susan Wittig Albert
A boomerang returns back to the person who throws it. But first, while moving in a circle, it hits its target. So does gossip. Vera Nazarian
A dog that will fetch a bone, will carry a bone. R. Forby
If you can't say anything nice, then don't say anything at all. Aesop
Little said is soonest mended. George Wither
Where there is smoke there is fire. unknown
Words once spoken can never be recalled. Wentworth Dillon
Words spoken are like eggs broken. Sheri Glewen
Nothing travels faster than light, with the possible exception of bad news, which follows its own rules. Douglas Adams
Fire and swords are slow engines of destruction, compared to the tongue of a Gossip. Richard Steele
To a philosopher all news, as it is called, is gossip, and they who edit and read it are old women over their tea. Henry David Thoreau
When it comes to gossip, I have to readily admit men are as guilty as women. Marilyn Monroe
While gossip among women is universally ridiculed as low and trivial, gossip among men, especially if it is about women, is called theory, or idea, or fact. Andrea Dworkin
When you gossip, it’s self-hexing. Because when you do it, it comes back to you. Everything starts with the word. The word is demonstrating a condition of the mind. If it’s in your mind and comes out of your mouth, it will be created. Iyanla Vanzant
People want to hear the gossip. They don't want to hear about the shots. Jamie Kennedy
Concerto grosso, blackest heart, / A mystifying natal chart— / All ignite the metaphoric art. / A planetful of pure desire / Is all poet should require / To set the commonplace afire. / The heart that hides inside the form / Observes the words that fume and swarm: / No one lives above the storm. Sidney Wade
Half the world is composed of people who have something to say but can't, and the other half of people who have nothing to say and keep on saying it. Robert Frost
Gossip is always a personal confession, either of malice or imbecility. Josiah Gilbert Holland
Gossip is like a fired bullet—once you hear the sound, you can't take it back. Lori Palatnik
Whispered insinuations are the rhetoric of the devil. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Never listen to accounts of the frailties of others; and if anyone should complain to you of another, humbly ask him not to speak of him at all. St. John of the Cross
We should have great peace if we did not busy ourselves with what others say and do. Thomas a Kempis
Do not listen gleefully to gossip at your neighbor's expense or chatter to a person who likes to find fault. Maximus the Confessor
If all men knew what each said of the other, there would not be four friends in the world. Blaise Pascal
Believe nothing against another, but upon good authority; nor report what may hurt another, unless it be a greater hurt to others to conceal it. William Penn
Rumor is a loud liar, like a snowball that gathers as it goeth. John Trapp
What is it to thee what they whisper there? Come after me and let the people talk. Dante Alighieri
Enter Rumour, painted full of tongues. William Shakespeare
How these curiosities would be quite forgot, did not such idle fellows as I am put them down. John Aubrey
Love and scandal are the best sweeteners of tea. Henry Fielding
It is a matter of great interest what sovereigns are doing; but as to what Grand Duchesses are doing— Who cares? Napoleon I
Everyone in a crowd has the power to throw dirt: nine out of ten have the inclination. William Hazlitt
There is only one thing in the world worse than being talked about, and that is not being talked about. Oscar Wilde
It takes your enemy and your friend, working together, to hurt you to the heart: the one to slander you and the other to get the news to you. Mark Twain
Like all gossip—it's merely one of those half-alive things that try to crowd out real life. E.M. Forster
No one gossips about other people's secret virtues. Bertrand Russell
Blood sport is brought to its ultimate refinement in the gossip columns. Bernard Ingham
If you can't say something good about someone, sit right here by me. Alice Roosevelt Longworth
Show me someone who never gossips, and I'll show you someone who isn't interested in people. Barbara Walters
Gossip is the opiate of the oppressed. Erica Jong
A gossip is someone who talks to you about others, a bore is someone who talks to you about himself, and a brilliant conversationalist is one who talks to you about yourself. Lisa Kirk
Gossip is just news running ahead of itself in a red satin dress. Liz Smith
Another good thing about gossip is that it is within everybody's reach, / And it is much more interesting than any other form of speech. Ogden Nash
A little bit of gossip does me good. Ogden Nash
I can feel a desire to gossip coming over me. I don't want to give in to it; narrative style should always be brief. Madame de Sevigne
Make it a habit to shut down conversations that are aimed at tearing others down. Natalie Tomlinson
You can tell more about a person by what he says about others than you can by what others say about him. Audrey Hepburn
If there's one thing I've learned it's that there would be no gossip without secrets. You might be brave enough to reveal your secret only to have it used against you. Or someone else's secret might affect you in unexpected ways. There are some secrets you are only to happy to keep. Others surface only to be buried away deeper than they were before. But the most powerful secrets are the truths you thought you could never reveal. That once spoken, change everything. Gossip Girl
Gossip is alright. It's the moralizing that is in poor taste. Lord Darlington
Oh, a tongue can accuse and carry bad news / Gossip is cheap and it's lo-o-ow / So unless you've made no mistakes in your life / Just be careful of stones that you throw Bonnie Dodd
Rumor has it she has you / Rumor has it you love her too / Talk is cheap but the price is high when it's true / Rumor has it she has you Bruce Burch
The power of gossip is always strengthen / When it finds a respected ear / If you listen the chances are greater / That a thread of doubt may appear / Evil tongues in town continue / Evil tongues in town / Continue to prat aloud / Their evil news / You'll have to take my word / When I tell you I love you / I love you I love you / Take my word I love you Nelson
Rumour has it you're an angel / Let's see if the gossip's true / Force of will or force of nature / It's only a point of view / I've seen you dancing on the floor / They don't make them like you no more / Bye, bye for now, I'll check you later / See you in a week or two Mary Frances Ambrose
The mouthpiece of ignorance / is gossip / The wellspring of gossip / —is lies Kurt Philip Behm