“
You backbiting, poisonous, treacherous, deceitful, wicked, clever girl. If this works I'll buy you a pony.
”
”
Jim Butcher (Summer Knight (The Dresden Files, #4))
“
Backbiting is the attempt of one who is incapable of doing better himself.
”
”
Ali ibn Abi Talib
“
A bad year and a bad month to all the backbiting bitches in the world!...
”
”
Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra (Don Quixote)
“
The man who backbites an absent friend, nay, who does not stand up for him when another blames him, the man who angles for bursts of laughter and for the repute of a wit, who can invent what he never saw, who cannot keep a secret -- that man is black at heart: mark and avoid him.
”
”
Marcus Tullius Cicero
“
Don't destroy yourself by allowing negative people add gibberish and debris to your character, reputation, and aspirations. Keep all dreams alive but discreet, so that those with unhealthy tongues won't have any other option than to infest themselves with their own diseases.
”
”
Michael Bassey Johnson (The Infinity Sign)
“
Sometimes your dearest friend whom you reveal most of your secrets to becomes so deadly and unfriendly without knowing that they were not really your friend.
”
”
Michael Bassey Johnson
“
Be warned: A person content to sit with you and criticize others will speak critically of you out of earshot.
”
”
Richelle E. Goodrich (Smile Anyway: Quotes, Verse, and Grumblings for Every Day of the Year)
“
When relationships lose their pitch through lack of interest and become stale or unbearable through enduring stealthy backbiting, the emotional house of cards is under attack. A painstaking reshuffle, however, may brand a new choice of life and create energy for positive thinking, whereas remaining bogged down in dispiriting situations and staying clogged up with immaterial hassle may only spawn forlorn deadlocks.. ("Mes cliques et mes claques")
”
”
Erik Pevernagie
“
Fill your mind before you empty your mouth.
”
”
Habeeb Akande
“
Many times, you are the single most significant and glorious thing that has ever happened in the lives of some people; they sit around and talk about you over and over again throughout the years while you are out there living your life, every step that you take and every kiss that you make having absolutely nothing to do with them, at all!
”
”
C. JoyBell C.
“
The mission or ministry of backbiters is to bite you at the back. When they backbite you, move forward. If you turn back to talk back or fight them, you descend to their low class.
”
”
Ifeanyi Enoch Onuoha
“
When someone respects you, s/he confronts you in private before taking you in public and/or stabbing in the back and backbiting you...
”
”
Assegid Habtewold (The 9 Cardinal Building Blocks: For continued success in leadership)
“
Ah... Much better" he said. "Backbiter, Luke called it. An appropriate name. Now that it is reforged comeplately, it shall indeed bite back
”
”
Rick Riordan
“
Be worried if you always flock in the company of people who peel off other people's skins with their teeth in their absence. A time will come when they'll try to pick a bite on you too!
”
”
Israelmore Ayivor (Daily Drive 365)
“
Don’t be too fast to highlight the weaknesses of other people. That is the quickest way of exposing your own weaknesses.
”
”
Israelmore Ayivor (Daily Drive 365)
“
Be careful of who becomes your friend and why. The person who will bite off your lips one day will have to first promise you a kiss today. Be careful of hypocrites.
”
”
Israelmore Ayivor (Daily Drive 365)
“
Nothing can save you from hate, empty all your treasures and give it to people and one out of the multitudes will curse you, so live your life to please yourself and not others.
”
”
Michael Bassey Johnson
“
At the bottom of the mountain you have your scoffers and doubters, by midpoint you have your envious and haters, and when you reach to the top you have new friends and family you never met or thought existed.
”
”
Anthony Liccione
“
There is, however, a far more common ailment among us—and that is pride from the bottom looking up. It is manifest in so many ways, such as faultfinding, gossiping, backbiting, and murmuring, living beyond our means, envying, coveting, withholding gratitude and praise that might lift another, and being unforgiving and jealous.
”
”
Ezra Taft Benson
“
Flavour your life in such a way that anyone who thinks he or she is biting or back-biting you, will rather take smiles away unexpectedly and with surprises.
”
”
Israelmore Ayivor
“
They asked a wise man: Why don’t we ever hear you backbiting and slandering?
He said: I’m still not happy with myself to start with others.
”
”
Ahmad Musa Jibril
“
Flattery looks like friendship, just like a wolf looks like a dog.
”
”
Oscar Auliq-Ice
“
Friendships are like plowed open fields ready for growth. What we plant is what will grow. If we plant seeds of reassurance, blessing, and love, we reap a great harvest of security. Of course, if we plant seeds of backbiting, questioning, and doubt, we reap a great harvest of insecurity.
”
”
Lysa TerKeurst (Unglued: Making Wise Choices in the Midst of Raw Emotions)
“
Cowards say it can't be done, critics say it shouldn't have been done, creator say well done.
”
”
Amit Kalantri (Wealth of Words)
“
I often wonder, in a catfight, when one doesn't want to fight, if the other cat calls it a pussy.
”
”
Anthony Liccione
“
As they throw more stones, let them fall where they may. In my opinion, the more rings in the ripple effect the better! Needless to say, they are giving you the opportunity to exchange their hate, backbiting, and negative energy into valuing and loving yourself more. They are helping you create a thicker skin as you find your happiness and you embrace a fruitful future.
This is your moment. You are coming into a time of peace and fulfillment. Take it all in! You put up with a lot of people’s shit to get where you are today.
”
”
Charlena E. Jackson (A Woman's Love Is Never Good Enough)
“
The vampire community has enough problems. We don't need to add petty backbiting to it.
”
”
Thomm Quackenbush (Danse Macabre (Night's Dream, #2))
“
I believe that when a woman is given the chance to come to the defense of another woman, that is an opportunity that she should take in behalf of not only that woman; but in behalf of herself and all other women, everywhere. Men don't have low opinions of women because women are sluts and whores; but men have low opinions of women because they see how women compete with one another, pull one another down in order to rise above and backbite one another endlessly. There are men who have low opinions of women because of how women treat other women. They see that and they think, "What kind of a species can do that to their own species?" So if you really want the guy, why not get him by showing him what a true friend you are to your girlfriends? Or by showing him how happy you are for the good fortune of another woman and how much you admire her? And if he doesn't appreciate that then he doesn't deserve you! I know we've got a long, long way to go before we change the way our gender treats one another; but it's got to start somewhere and I suggest we start right now.
”
”
C. JoyBell C.
“
Do you know that some people hate you because somebody lied to them about you.
”
”
Jordan Hoechlin
“
The sins of the flesh are bad, but they are the least bad of all sins. All the worst pleasures are purely spiritual: the pleasure of putting other people in the wrong, of bossing and patronising and spoiling sport, and back-biting, the pleasures of power, of hatred.
”
”
C.S. Lewis (Mere Christianity)
“
I enjoyed perfect health of body, and tranquillity of mind; I did not feel the treachery or inconstancy of a friend, nor the injuries of a secret or open enemy. I had no occasion of bribing, flattering, or pimping, to procure the favour of any great man, or of his minion; I wanted no fence against fraud or oppression: here was neither physician to destroy my body, nor lawyer to ruin my fortune; no informer to watch my words and actions, or forge accusations against me for hire: here were no gibers, censurers, backbiters, pickpockets, highwaymen, housebreakers, attorneys, bawds, buffoons, gamesters, politicians, wits, splenetics, tedious talkers, controvertists, ravishers, murderers, robbers, virtuosos; no leaders, or followers, of party and faction; no encouragers to vice, by seducement or examples; no dungeon, axes, gibbets, whipping-posts, or pillories; no cheating shopkeepers or mechanics; no pride, vanity, or affectation; no fops, bullies, drunkards, strolling whores, or poxes; no ranting, lewd, expensive wives; no stupid, proud pedants; no importunate, overbearing, quarrelsome, noisy, roaring, empty, conceited, swearing companions; no scoundrels raised from the dust upon the merit of their vices, or nobility thrown into it on account of their virtues; no lords, fiddlers, judges, or dancing-masters.
”
”
Jonathan Swift (Gulliver’s Travels)
“
About the New Life Meher Baba wrote:
This New Life is endless, and even after my physical death it will be kept alive by those who live the life of complete renunciation of falsehood, lies, hatred, anger, greed and lust; and who, to accomplish all this, do no lustful actions, do no harm to anyone, do no backbiting, do not seek material possessions or power, who accept no homage, neither covet honor nor shun disgrace, and fear no one and nothing; by those who rely wholly and solely on God, and who love God purely for the sake of loving; who believe in the lovers of God and in the reality of Manifestation, and yet do not expect any spiritual or material reward; who do not let go the hand of Truth, and who, without being upset by calamities, bravely and wholeheartedly face all hardships with one hundred percent cheerfulness, and give no importance to caste, creed and religious ceremonies. This New Life will live by itself eternally, even if there is no one to live it.
”
”
Meher Baba
“
You could fill three lifetimes with the things people say about you when you're not there.
”
”
Stewart Stafford
“
If every man, ...ceased to hate and blame every other man for his own failures and shortcomings, we would see the end of every evil in the world, from war to backbiting.
”
”
Grace Metalious (Peyton Place (Peyton Place, #1))
“
Wherever you go in France, you will find that their three chief occupations are making love, backbiting, and talking nonsense.
”
”
Voltaire (Candide)
“
Free speech is unthinkable. All other kinds of freedom are permitted. You are free to be a drunkard, an idler, a coward, a backbiter, a fornicator; but you are not free to think for yourself.
”
”
George Orwell (Orwell on Truth)
“
know you believe that the politics in London are especially uncivil, but you’ll soon see that the style here in America is every bit as ferocious, and marked with backbiting, lies, deceit, and ill will.
”
”
Susan Holloway Scott (I, Eliza Hamilton)
“
When someone tells us of an unfavorable opinion about ourselves, instead of being distressed, we should think of all the “evil” we have spoken of others, and realize that it is only justice that as much should be said of ourselves. Ironically, no one is more vulnerable, more susceptible, and less likely to acknowledge his own defects than the backbiter. Merely tell him about the slightest reservation someone has made in his regard, and he will lose countenance, lose his temper, and drown in his own bile.
”
”
Emil M. Cioran (The Trouble With Being Born)
“
Just like old times,” I wheezed. “Yeah, just like old times, Elaine. You backbiting, poisonous, treacherous . . .” And then a thought hit me. Just like old times. “. . . deceitful, wicked, clever girl. If this works I’ll buy you a pony.
”
”
Jim Butcher (Summer Knight (The Dresden Files, #4))
“
Mind your words, for the wind is sentient.
”
”
Michael Bassey Johnson (Song of a Nature Lover)
“
I think that the trademark of the Devil in this world, is the awful rift between women. Women backbiting other women, women envying other women and so on and so forth. And then there is the telltale sign of God in this world, which is the intoxicating potion of joy that is concocted when a woman reaches out to another woman, when women will take an extra step, go an extra mile, or just go out of their way an inch for their fellow woman, regardless of the varying degrees of things we hold important such as beauty, intelligence, status and so on and so forth. Beautiful acts of God are seen in the kindness of women towards other women. And when I say this, I am also thinking about gay men in the same light.
”
”
C. JoyBell C.
“
People who talk behind you, always left behind you!
”
”
sophieya
“
Enemies are always born in your bloodlines. When in doubt always turn your head into your bloodlines. You will definitely find a solution to your problem!
”
”
Fahad Basheer
“
Backbiting and gossip are the third type of unskillful speech. Words of this nature cause disharmony and the loss of friends.
”
”
Joseph Goldstein (One Dharma: The Emerging Western Buddhism)
“
The faith of a religious hypocrite can only be increased through backbiting!
”
”
Fahad Basheer
“
Vanity backbites more than Malice.
”
”
Benjamin Franklin (Wit and Wisdom from Poor Richard's Almanack)
“
An angry countenance is the best defense against people backbiting while in your presence.
”
”
Andrew B. Ray
“
But after all, I’m not God’s lawyer. I’m not doing any backbiting, God forbid, and I can’t stand the evil tongue.
”
”
Sholom Aleichem (Happy New Year! and Other Stories)
“
As we grow in the Christian life we face increasing danger of spiritual pride. We know the correct doctrines, the right methods, and the proper do's and don'ts. But we may not see the poverty of our own spiritual character. We may not see our critical and unforgiving spirit, our habit of backbiting, or our tendency to judge others. We may become like the Laodiceans of whom our Lord said, 'You say, "I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing." But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind, and naked' (Revelation 3:17).
”
”
Jerry Bridges (The Pursuit of Holiness)
“
The pleasure of putting other people in the wrong, of bossing and patronizing and spoiling sport, and back-biting, the pleasures of power, of hatred. For there are two things inside me, competing with the human self which I must try to become. They are the Animal self and the Diabolical self. The Diabolical self is the worse of the two. This is why a cold, self-righteous prig who goes regularly to church may be far nearer to hell than a prostitute. But of course, it is better to be neither.
”
”
C.S. Lewis
“
Luther describes how backbiters are like hyenas or dogs who dig up stinking human corpses, pullulating with decay and full of worms, and bite into them—“Ugh, what a dreadful monster the backbiter is!
”
”
Lyndal Roper (Martin Luther: Renegade and Prophet)
“
Be still,25 and know that I am God, saith the Scripture. Excuse thyself from talking many idle words: neither backbite, nor lend a willing ear to backbiters; but rather be prompt to prayer. Shew in ascetic exercise that thy heart is nerved.26 Cleanse thy vessel, that thou mayest receive grace more abundantly. For though remission of sins is given equally to all, the communion of the Holy Ghost is bestowed in proportion to each man’s faith. If thou hast laboured little, thou receivest little; but if thou hast wrought much, the reward is great. Thou art running for thyself, see to thine own interest.
”
”
Cyril of Jerusalem (The Catechetical Lectures of St. Cyril of Jerusalem)
“
The young lady was once a rose without thorns because she was taught how to take care of everyone else, as opposed to taking care of herself. After the betrayals, hurt, pain and bitterness, she becomes a rose with thorns. However, the thorns pricked and scared her, because she was groomed to be what other people wanted her to be. Now she has to learn how to handle the thorns of life on her own.
As the thorns grow thicker and sharper, her personality changes; she is now labeled as bitter, quick-tempered, and a bad influence on others because her attitude has changed. Sad to say, the same people who molded her to be the “perfect” young lady, are the ones who are back-biting her. They fail to realize it was their doing. Everyone should be born with thorns so that they are entitled to make mistakes and learn from them. They will know how it feels to love, to be loved, and to know how to heal if love doesn’t work out accordingly.
”
”
Charlena E. Jackson (A Woman's Love Is Never Good Enough)
“
ROM1.30 Backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, ROM1.31 Without understanding, covenantbreakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful:
”
”
Anonymous (KING JAMES BIBLE - VerseSearch - Red Letter Edition)
“
They say that a pauper has a bottomless stomach. That’s true as the Bible. You ought to take a look at Genesi’s children. May God spare me! But I’m not talking ill of anyone, God forbid. And I can’t stand backbiting either.
”
”
Sholom Aleichem (Happy New Year! and Other Stories)
“
The role of the prophet was ambiguous in the eyes of some of his contemporaries. The indignation that flowed from him, the anger he displayed, even when extrinsic to his mind, became so intimate a part of his soul that those exposed to it could easily mistake it as his own antipathy rather than as sympathy with divine anger, and could assume that he had his own ax to grind, that he was giving vent to personal hostility. It seems that Jeremiah was accused of feeling delight in anticipating the disaster which he had announced in the name of the Lord. He who loved his people, whose life was dedicated to saving his people, was regarded as an enemy. Over and above the agony of sensing the imminent disaster, his soul was bruised by calumny. What protection was there against such backbiting? No one could look into his heart, but everybody was hurt by his words. Only the Lord knew the truth.
”
”
Abraham Joshua Heschel
“
Never speak ill of others. Moreover, if you find people engaged in backbiting and you can neither get away from the scene, nor prevent others from backbiting, immediately begin to recite istighfār (supplication seeking pardon from Allah). Never
”
”
Khurram Murad (Dying and Living for Allah: The Last Will of Khurram Murad)
“
God has attached an enormous ball to this chain: the obligation of restoring the neighbor's reputation. Saint Augustine's words here are as true for backbiting as for money: "Non dimittitur peccatum nisi restituatur ablatum: No restoration, no pardon.
”
”
Fr. Belet
“
What you say about someone behind their back, says a lot about your backbone.
”
”
Gift Gugu Mona
“
We are a nation of fence-sitters, face-flatterers and back-biters.
”
”
Khushwant Singh (More Malicious Gossip)
“
We do not understand our task very well when we neglect our own nettle-choked garden and go to pull up weeds in someone else’s flower bed. Look my friend, stay in your own garden! There are enough burdocks, tares and nettles to weed out right there. Take a hard look at yourself and you will no longer see defects in others. Saint Bernard says, “If you examine yourself well, you will never backbite others” (Saint Bernard, De inter. Dom, Chapter 42).
”
”
Jean-Pierre Bélet (Sins of the Tongue: The Backbiting Tongue)
“
Lady Linlithgow was worldly, stingy, ill-tempered, selfish, and mean. Lady Linlithgow would cheat a butcher out of a mutton-chop, or a cook out of a month’s wages, if she could do so with some slant of legal wind in her favour. She would tell any number of lies to carry a point in what she believed to be social success. It was said of her that she cheated at cards. In back-biting, no venomous old woman between Bond Street and Park Lane could beat her, — or, more wonderful still, no venomous old man at the clubs. But nevertheless she recognised certain duties,
”
”
Anthony Trollope (Complete Works of Anthony Trollope)
“
Worship alone is not enough. Neither is praying. Right living means making a deliberate, clean break with sin, accompanied by confession if necessary, and a resolute, careful determination to live every day in obedience to the laws of God. It means laying aside dishonesty, immorality, coarse or foul language, gossip, slander, backbiting, backstabbing, envy, jealousy, pride, selfish ambition, and lying. Right living means taking up a humble spirit of submission and service to God in which we first love God with all our heart and then love our neighbor as ourselves.
”
”
Myles Munroe (The Myles Munroe's Kingdom Series)
“
And Tietjens, who hated no man, in face of this simple-minded and agreeable schoolboy type of fellow, fell to wondering why it was that humanity that was next to always agreeable in its units was, as a mass, a phenomenon so hideous. You look at a dozen men, each of them not by any means detestable and not uninteresting: for each of them would have technical details of their affairs to impart: you formed them into a Government or a club, and at once, with oppressions, inaccuracies, gossip, backbiting, lying, corruption and vileness, you had the combination of wolf, tiger, weasel, and louse-covered ape that was human society. And he
”
”
Ford Madox Ford (Parade's End (Wordsworth Classics))
“
My brother, are war and battle evil? Necessary, however, is the evil; necessary are the envy and the distrust and the back-biting among the virtues. Lo! how each of thy virtues is covetous of the highest place; it wanteth thy whole spirit to be ITS herald, it wanteth thy whole power, in wrath, hatred, and love. Jealous is every virtue of the others, and a dreadful thing is jealousy. Even virtues may succumb by jealousy. He whom the flame of jealousy encompasseth, turneth at last, like the scorpion, the poisoned sting against himself. Ah! my brother, hast thou never seen a virtue backbite and stab itself? Man is something that hath to be surpassed: and therefore shalt thou love thy virtues,—for thou wilt succumb by them.— Thus spake Zarathustra.
”
”
Friedrich Nietzsche (Thus Spake Zarathustra A book for all and none)
“
The perplexed man cried out within the clergyman, and pressed for some acknowledgment from God of the being he had made. But—was it strange to tell? or if strange, was it not the most natural result nevertheless?—almost the same moment he began to pray in this truer fashion, the doubt rushed up in him like a torrent-spring from the fountains of the great deep—Was there—could there be a God at all? a real being who might actually hear his prayer? In this crowd of houses and shops and churches, amidst buying and selling, and ploughing and praising and backbiting, this endless pursuit of ends and of means to ends, while yet even the wind that blew where it listed blew under laws most fixed, and the courses of the stars were known to a hair's-breadth, —was there—could there be a silent invisible God working his own will in it all? Was there a driver to that chariot whose multitudinous horses seemed tearing away from the pole in all directions? and was he indeed, although invisible and inaudible, guiding that chariot, sure as the flight of a comet, straight to its goal? Or was there a soul to that machine whose myriad wheels went grinding on and on, grinding the stars into dust, matter into man, and man into nothingness? Was there—could there be a living heart to the universe that did positively hear him—poor, misplaced, dishonest, ignorant Thomas Wingfold, who had presumed to undertake a work he neither could perform nor had the courage to forsake, when out of the misery of the grimy little cellar of his consciousness he cried aloud for light and something to make a man of him? For now that Thomas had begun to doubt like an honest being, every ugly thing within him began to show itself to his awakened probity.
”
”
George MacDonald (Thomas Wingfold, Curate V1)
“
When high expectations are communicated to members, the unchurched are attracted to these churches that have meaningful membership. One such church among the churches we have received information on is Carron Baptist Church, an African-American church in Washington, D.C. They actually require their members to agree to a church covenant that mandates the following: To read the Bible daily. To pray with and for members of your family daily. To attend all worship services unless hindered by health or circumstances beyond your control. To abstain from gossip, backbiting, murmuring, or negative talk. To respond to conflict and disagreement according to biblical precepts. To share your faith regularly; to invite people to church. To participate in Bible study/ Sunday school To be in agreement with the church’s doctrine. To be involved in at least one ministry in the church. To tithe. To abstain from alcohol and illegal drugs. To be sexually pure. The unchurched that visit Carron Baptist Church quickly discern that it is a high-expectation church. Yet they keep returning, keep joining, and the church continues to grow.
”
”
Thom S. Rainer (Surprising Insights from the Unchurched and Proven Ways to Reach Them)
“
The first movie star I met was Norma Shearer. I was eight years old at the time and going to school with Irving Thalberg Jr. His father, the longtime production chief at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, devoted a large part of his creative life to making Norma a star, and he succeeded splendidly. Unfortunately, Thalberg had died suddenly in 1936, and his wife's career had begun to slowly deflate. Just like kids everywhere else, Hollywood kids had playdates at each other's houses, and one day I went to the Thalberg house in Santa Monica, where Irving Sr. had died eighteen months before. Norma was in bed, where, I was given to understand, she spent quite a bit of time so that on those occasions when she worked or went out in public she would look as rested as possible. She was making Marie Antoinette at the time, and to see her in the flesh was overwhelming. She very kindly autographed a picture for me, which I still have: "To Cadet Wagner, with my very best wishes. Norma Shearer." Years later I would be with her and Martin Arrouge, her second husband, at Sun Valley. No matter who the nominal hostess was, Norma was always the queen, and no matter what time the party was to begin, Norma was always late, because she would sit for hours—hours!—to do her makeup, then make the grand entrance. She was always and forever the star. She had to be that way, really, because she became a star by force of will—hers and Thalberg's. Better-looking on the screen than in life, Norma Shearer was certainly not a beauty on the level of Paulette Goddard, who didn't need makeup, didn't need anything. Paulette could simply toss her hair and walk out the front door, and strong men grew weak in the knees. Norma found the perfect husband in Martin. He was a lovely man, a really fine athlete—Martin was a superb skier—and totally devoted to her. In the circles they moved in, there were always backbiting comments when a woman married a younger man—" the stud ski instructor," that sort of thing. But Martin, who was twelve years younger than Norma and was indeed a ski instructor, never acknowledged any of that and was a thorough gentleman all his life. He had a superficial facial resemblance to Irving Thalberg, but Thalberg had a rheumatic heart and was a thin, nonathletic kind of man—intellectually vital, but physically weak. Martin was just the opposite—strong and virile, with a high energy level. Coming after years of being married to Thalberg and having to worry about his health, Martin must have been a delicious change for Norma.
”
”
Robert J. Wagner (Pieces of My Heart: A Life)
“
unless you take the view that footballers should be picked on their form as players, and not for personal considerations.’ ‘Ah!’ said Mr Bowles, ‘but that’s what Vicar would call a counsel of perfection. People talk a lot about the team spirit and let the best side win, but if you was to sit in this bar and listen to what goes on, it’s all spite and jealousy, or else it’s how to scrape up enough money to entice away some other team’s centre-forward, or it’s complaints about favouritism or wrong decisions, or something that leaves a nasty taste in the mouth. The game’s not what it was when I was a lad. Too much commercialism, and enough back-biting to stock an old maids’ tea-party.
”
”
Dorothy L. Sayers (In the Teeth of the Evidence (Lord Peter Wimsey, #14))
“
Romans 1:
8 First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all, that your faith is spoken of throughout the whole world.
9 For God is my witness, whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel of his Son, that without ceasing I make mention of you always in my prayers;
10 Making request, if by any means now at length I might have a prosperous journey by the will of God to come unto you.
11 For I long to see you, that I may impart unto you some spiritual gift, to the end ye may be established;
12 That is, that I may be comforted together with you by the mutual faith both of you and me.
13 Now I would not have you ignorant, brethren, that oftentimes I purposed to come unto you, (but was let hitherto,) that I might have some fruit among you also, even as among other Gentiles.
14 I am debtor both to the Greeks, and to the Barbarians; both to the wise, and to the unwise.
15 So, as much as in me is, I am ready to preach the gospel to you that are at Rome also.
16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.
17 For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith.
18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness;
19 Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them.
20 For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse:
21 Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened.
22 Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools,
23 And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things.
24 Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves:
25 Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen.
26 For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature:
27 And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence of their error which was meet.
28 And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient;
29 Being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity; whisperers,
30 Backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents,
31 Without understanding, covenantbreakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful:
32 Who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are
”
”
Anonymous (The Holy Bible: King James Version)
“
Pity those who are punished. Alas! Who are we, after all? Who am I who
speak to you now? Who are you, listening to me? Where do we come from?
And is it quite certain we did nothing before we were born? The earth is not
without some resemblance to a gaol. Who knows whether man is not a
previous offender against divine justice?
Take a close look at life. It is so organized that everywhere there is a
sense of punishment.
Are you what is called a happy man? Well, you are sad every day. Every
day has its great sorrow or petty anxiety. Yesterday you were trembling for
the health of someone dear to you, today you fear for your own; tomorrow
it will be financial worries, the next day some back-biter’s slander, the day
after that a friend’s misfortune. Then the weather, then something broken or
lost, then a pleasure that your conscience and your backbone begrudge you.
Another time, what is going on in the world. Not to mention heartache. And
so on and so forth. One cloud clears, another forms. Hardly one day in a
hundred that is entirely joyous, entirely sunny. And you are one of that
small number who are happy! As for the rest of mankind, stagnant night is
upon them.
Reflective minds rarely use those terms, ‘the happy’ and ‘the unhappy’.
In this world, the antechamber to another, of course, no one is happy.
The real human division is this: the enlightened and the benighted.
To reduce the numbers of the benighted, to increase the numbers of the
enlightened, that is the object. That is why we cry: Education! Science! To
teach someone to read is to light a fire! Every spelled-out syllable sparkles!
And he who says ‘light’ does not necessarily say ‘joy’. People suffer in
the light. An excess of it burns. The flame is enemy to the wing. To burn
without ceasing to fly, that is the marvel of genius.
Even if you have knowledge and even if you have love, you will still
suffer. Each day begins with tears. The enlightened weep, if only for the
benighted.
”
”
Victor Hugo (Les Misérables)
“
My model, such as it is, is a mentorship model, which is to say that I care personally, and I involve myself personally/emotionally with the work of each student, and I try to make it such that they want to reach for more, do better, risk more, try new things, abandon limited objectives, individuate, and so on. For me it is personal, to the best of my ability, and it is about making more of the writer and of the writer’s task in each case. I also think it’s possible to do this, to teach in this way, in a classroom free of rancor and backbiting and competitive jostling. So: my class should be a place of peace, a place where anything is possible, where the code of realism is in disrepute, and the worst thing you can say, the absolutely verboten thing, is the phrase: The New Yorker.
”
”
Rick Moody
“
The modern and contemporary attire and terminology for the backbiting is a transmission that, people watch and view on Television Channels every day as the news.
”
”
Ehsan Sehgal
“
I must not limit myself to addressing backbiters, but also implore their listeners to stop their ears and walk in the footsteps of the holy king, who said, ‘Whoever slanders his neighbor in secret, his enemy will I become’ (Ps. 100:5). Tell the person who comes to you and speaks about others, ‘Are you here to praise someone and raise him in my esteem? Then gladly will I give ear and savor all your sweet conversation. But if you intend to speak ill, let me stop you right now; I cannot stand filth and stench. What have I to gain by knowing that someone is evil? Would I not be losing something instead? Talk to him yourself, and let us mind our own business.’”(Saint John Chrysostom, Homily 3, Ad pop. Antioch).
”
”
Jean-Pierre Bélet (Sins of the Tongue: The Backbiting Tongue)
“
Quisquis amat dictis absentum rodere famam, Hanc mensam vetitam noverit esse sibi That is, “People who take pleasure in defaming the reputation of absentees are not welcome at this table.
”
”
Jean-Pierre Bélet (Sins of the Tongue: The Backbiting Tongue)
“
In order to arm himself against this trap, Emperor Constantine said that even if he saw the Head of Christianity commit an atrocious act, not only would he not reveal it, but he would cover it with his cloak.
”
”
Jean-Pierre Bélet (Sins of the Tongue: The Backbiting Tongue)
“
The person who refuses to cover the weaknesses of others will see his own crimes come to the light of day. Do you want others to keep silence regarding your miseries? Then keep silence regarding theirs; put a lock over your mouth and a brake on your tongue.
”
”
Jean-Pierre Bélet (Sins of the Tongue: The Backbiting Tongue)
“
If someone relates certain things you have witnessed, limit yourself to talking about human weakness, and celebrate the virtues of the man whose vices they expose. Say, “Even the greatest men have done things that need to be forgiven.
”
”
Jean-Pierre Bélet (Sins of the Tongue: The Backbiting Tongue)
“
There was one endless plot at the core of Backstage Wife: sweet Mary Noble stood in the wings as scores of Broadway glamor girls took dead aim at her sometimes fickle man. With Stella Dallas and Helen Trent, Mary was one of the most tortured creatures of the afternoon. The word “suffer” does no justice to Mary’s life with Larry Noble. Mary endured. She faced the most startling array of hussies, jezebels, and schemers ever devised in a subgenre that made an art form of such shenanigans. Add to this the common soap opera ingredients—arrogant foes in high places, misunderstandings that real people would correct in a moment, and festering resentment fueled by the refusal to communicate—then move on to the real meat of this agony of agonies: avarice, backbiting, hatred, amnesia, insanity, murder. Larry Noble may have been a “matinee idol of a million other women,” but Mary too had her admirers. Most of them were psychotics, and this led Backstage Wife to a frantic level of melodrama touched by few other soaps in radio history.
”
”
John Dunning (On the Air: The Encyclopedia of Old-Time Radio)
“
As men & women of God we should not seek to expose the weaknesses of our brother or sister by gossiping, backbiting or slandering them however, we should cover them in prayer
”
”
Elder Walter S. Strong III
“
Who say mo'?
You say mo'?
I say mo'
Mo' what?
Mo' who?
Mo' when?
More Jesus.
Right Now!
To stop the fighting
Backbiting, interrogating
Propagating, disruption
Corruption and eruption!
Disseminate the man...
Which man?
The man called Jesus.
The Son of God
The Messiah
The Prince of Peace
The Good Shepherd
Emmanuel
Lord of lords
King of all kings
And Ruler of Everything.
So you say mo?
Yes I say mo'
We all say mo'
More of the man called Jesus.
”
”
Maisie A. Smikle
“
Welcome to the magic of Harbinger Island, Donovan. It's a lot of backbiting witches and wizards. Cults and conspiracies, and a whole lot of fucking dead people.
”
”
Dorian Dawes (Harbinger Island)
“
gossiping, backbiting courtiers, and as he closed the mahogany door behind him and the heavy brass latch clacked into place, the room erupted into a dozen scheming conversations. Power was like a magnet, keeping everything rigid and straight and proper. But without the magnet, it all collapsed into disorganized scrap.
”
”
Barry Eisler (The Chaos Kind (John Rain, #11, Livia Lone, #5))
“
Let go of people who believe they know you well, allow judging you and backbiting for no reason but boosting their own egos!
”
”
Lily Amis
“
Have not many of us been Devils one unto another for Slanderings, for Backbitings, for Animosities? For this, among other causes, perhaps, God has permitted the Devils to be worrying, as they now are, among us. But it is high time to leave off all Devilism, when the Devil himself is falling upon us: And it is no time for us to be Censuring and Reviling one another, with a Devilish wrath, when the wrath of the Devil is annoying of us.
”
”
Cotton Mather (On Witchcraft (Dover Occult))
“
Amos was a man without subtext. When he said he needed some time alone, it was because he needed some time alone. When Alex asked if he wanted to come watch the newly downloaded neo-noir films out of Earth that he subscribed to, the answer was always and only a response to the question. There was no sense of backbiting, no social punishment or isolation games. It just was what it was, and that was it.
”
”
James S.A. Corey (Nemesis Games)
“
the only thing I had so far learned with any certainty about the film world was that back-biting, hypocrisy, double-dealing, innuendo and character assassination formed so integral a part of its conversational fabric that it was quite impossible to know where the truth ended and falsehood began. The only safe guide, I’d discovered, was to assume that the truth ended almost immediately.
”
”
Alistair MacLean (Bear Island: A gripping suspense novel about a film-making that inspired a Hollywood film)
“
Embodiment of ar-Ra’uf is particularly recommended when hostility is focused directly at you—aggressive hostility that causes you mental anguish. We are talking about backbiting, innuendo, carrying tales, and lying about you. Ar-Ra’uf is even subtler and quieter than saying, “I forgive so-and-so for causing me harm.” It is similar to the divine Name al-’Afuw, perfect forgiveness.
”
”
Wali Ali Meyer (Physicians of the Heart: A Sufi View of the Ninety-Nine Names of Allah)
“
The backbiting tongue has chosen the very motto of Death as its own: "I spare no one!" Priest or judge, known or unknown, religious or worldling, friend or foe, none of that matters to him. The backbiter spares nothing and no one, not even his father and mother. Why is this so? Because he enjoys talking, so speaking evil gratifies him. He considers it a pleasure when he finds something to criticize in others. He is filled with joy when he can invent and relate things that do not even exist.
”
”
Fr. Belet (Sins of the Tongue: Cross-linked to the Bible)
“
Backbiting is eminently destructive, for it robs a man of what is most precious to him: his reputation. That is why theologians are in unanimous agreement to say that it is more serious than stealing; for a sin is all the greater in that it deprives someone of a greater good. Robbing someone of his reputation is worse than stealing his money, according to the words of Solomon: "A good name is more desirable than great riches.
”
”
Fr. Belet (Sins of the Tongue: Cross-linked to the Bible)
“
You who backbite, do not think it suffices to tell your listeners, "Don't reveal what I say, I beg of you, I confide this secret to your discretion." You are no less guilty, and this behavior proves how simple you are. Pray tell, why do you ask him to keep silence? You are the one who should have kept silence first. If you do not want your words to leak out then keep them to yourself! You have not remained silent and you would shut other people's mouths! If you are in such a rush to pull the stopper out of the spigot, then what can you expect of others?
”
”
Fr. Belet (Sins of the Tongue: Cross-linked to the Bible)
“
Saint John of the Ladder explains it thus: "The devil tempts us to commit sin; and when he does not succeed, he points scornfully at those who have fallen." We do not understand our task very well when we neglect our own nettle-choked garden and go to pull up weeds in someone else's flower bed. Look my friend, stay in your own garden! There are enough burdocks, tares and nettles to weed out right there. Take a hard look at yourself and you will no longer see defects in others. Saint Bernard says, "If you examine yourself well, you will never backbite others.
”
”
Fr. Belet (Sins of the Tongue: Cross-linked to the Bible)
“
Take Care not to have an itching tongue, nor tingling ears; neither attract others, nor listen to backbiters. [Letter to Nepotian]
”
”
Jerome (The Letters of Saint Jerome (Illustrated))
“
...we rest not contented with natural poisons, but betake ourselves to many mixtures and compositions artificial, made even with our own hands. But what say you to this? Are not men themselves mere poisons by nature? For these slanderers and backbiters in the world, what do they else but launch poison out of their black tongues, like hideous serpents?
”
”
Pliny the Elder
“
The person who sets fire to his neighbor’s house is sinful, but so is the man who warms himself by the heat of the burning house.
”
”
Jean-Pierre Bélet (Sins of the Tongue: The Backbiting Tongue)
“
Suspicion in the heart that affects one’s thoughts and opinion of another person is considered backbiting of the heart (ghībat al-qalb). This
”
”
Hamza Yusuf (Purification of the Heart: Signs, Symptoms and Cures of the Spiritual Diseases of the Heart)
“
deep--Was there--could there be a God at all? a real being who might actually hear his prayer? In this crowd of houses and shops and churches, amidst buying and selling, and ploughing and praising and backbiting, this endless pursuit of ends and of means to ends, while yet even the wind that blew where it listed blew under laws most fixed, and the courses of the stars were known to a hair's-breadth, --was there--could there be a silent invisible God working his own will in it all? Was there a driver to that chariot whose multitudinous horses seemed tearing away from the pole in all directions? and was he indeed, although invisible and inaudible, guiding that chariot, sure as the flight of a comet, straight to its goal? Or was there a soul to that machine whose myriad wheels went grinding on and on, grinding the stars into dust, matter into man, and man into nothingness? Was there--could there be a living heart to the universe that did positively hear him--poor, misplaced, dishonest, ignorant Thomas Wingfold, who had presumed to undertake a work he neither could perform nor had the courage to forsake, when out of the misery of the grimy little cellar of his consciousness he cried aloud for light and something to make a man of him? For now that Thomas had begun to doubt like an honest being, every ugly thing within him began to show itself to his awakened probity.
”
”
George MacDonald (The Complete Works of George MacDonald)
“
O you who have believed, avoid much [negative] assumption. Indeed, some assumption is sin. And do not spy or backbite each other. Would one of you like to eat the flesh of his brother when dead? You would detest it. And fear Allah ; indeed, Allah is Accepting of repentance and Merciful." Quran The Rooms 49 : 12.
”
”
Anonymous
“
Watch the way you talk. Let nothing foul or dirty come out of your mouth. Say only what helps, each word a gift. 30 Don’t grieve God. Don’t break his heart. His Holy Spirit, moving and breathing in you, is the most intimate part of your life, making you fit for himself. Don’t take such a gift for granted. 31-32 Make a clean break with all cutting, backbiting, profane talk. Be gentle with one another, sensitive. Forgive one another as quickly and thoroughly as God in Christ forgave you. WAKE UP FROM Y
”
”
Eugene H. Peterson (The Message: The Bible in Contemporary Language--Numbered Edition)
“
Lately, however, the routine had begun to pall. Coprolites and Jurassic snails no longer held the fascination they once did, and the incessant backbiting and political manoeuvring endemic in upperechelon academia—which she had always known and accepted as part of the scholastic landscape—was proving more and more of an irksome distraction. The further she travelled into darkest PhD territory, the more the fossilised remains of extinct creatures dwindled in fascination; she was rapidly specialising herself beyond caring about her subject. Whether or not the world learned what the latest new megasaurus ate for lunch sixty million years ago, what difference did it make?
”
”
Stephen R. Lawhead (The Bright Empires Collection (Bright Empires, #1-5))