quotations about rumors
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 compelling to the extent that they circulate in ways that can position their hearers and tellers in new and unexpected relation to what lies beyond them. To hear or relate a rumor is to pass on the possibility of something having happened or yet to happen and thereby claim for oneself a place within the circuit on which rumor travels. And by staking for oneself a position from which to imagine the potential occurrence of events (that is, events as they could have been or might be), one begins to share in the circulation of potentiality itself.
VICENTE L. RAFAEL
White Love and Other Events in Filipino History
Rumors are like odors: the more pungent they are, the faster they spread.
YUN CH'OE
There a Petal Silently Falls
Rumors are often recycled. People rely on those narrative templates that have proved to be plausible and durable in the past. Rumors appear, are spread, and then disappear--ignored--until similar circumstances make the stories appropriate once again.
GARY ALAN FINE & BILL ELLIS
The Global Grapevine
News told, rumors heard, truth implied, facts buried.
TOBA BETA
My Ancestor Was an Ancient Astronaut
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"
I don't have to listen to rumors about a man when I can judge him for myself.
STEPHEN KING
Different Seasons
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
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
A rumor which is raised of nothing soon vanishes.
ERASMUS
attributed, Day's Collacon
The art of spreading rumors may be compared to the art of pin-making, there is usually some truth, which I call the wire; as this passes from hand to hand, one gives it a polish, another a point, others make and put on the head, and at last the pin is completed.
J. NEWTON
attributed, The Saturday Magazine, October 11, 1834
Rumors are like a big onion--when peeled, all layers, all tears, and nothing there.
RAYMOND LUCZAK
Whispers of a Savage Sort
When a man is in trouble, any rumor is sufficient to complete his ruin.
G. W. CLINTON
attributed, Day's Collacon
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 harpoons--once they go in, they're hard to pull out.
ANONYMOUS
U. S. News & World Report, 1996
Rumors are like wind in the belly--all noise and no nourishment.
ANONYMOUS
The Canadian Historical Review, vol. 23
Once a rumor, always a rumor.
JUDSON D. HALE
The Education of a Yankee
Even the absurdest report may in nearly every instance be traced to an actual occurrence; and had there been no such actual occurrence, this preposterous misrepresentation of it would never have existed. Though the distorted or magnified image transmitted to us through the refracting medium of rumour, is utterly unlike the reality; yet in the absence of the reality there would have been no distorted or magnified image.
HERBERT SPENCER
First Principles
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