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Directory of Mark Twain's maxims, quotations, and various opinions:

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GOSSIP

It is human nature to take delight in exciting admiration. It is what prompts children to say "smart" things, and do absurd ones, and in other ways "show off" when company is present. It is what makes gossips turn out in rain and storm to be the first to tell a startling bit of news.
- The Innocents Abroad

AI image created by Barbara Schmidt

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.
- "Pudd'nhead Wilson's New Calendar"

He gossips habitually; he lacks the common wisdom to keep still that deadly enemy of man, his own tongue.
- "Bishop Staley" Sacramento Daily Union, 30 July 1866

 

Gossip illustration
Illustration from NEW YORK HERALD
February 24, 1907

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