Controlling gossip
A great sage once compared a person who finds pleasure in gossip to a fly: A fly lands on stool and other unclean objects. Its presence pollutes that which is pure and clean. In the same way that flies can cause illness, gossip leads to unnecessary pain, anxiety and sadness. Some proverbs about gossip:
Gossiping and lying go hand in hand.—Traditional proverb
Gossip needs no carriage. —Russian
What is told in a man’s ear is sometimes heard 100 miles away.—Chinese
He who gossips with you will gossip about you. —Lebanese
Whoever brings a tale takes two away.—Irish
Gossiping about the enemy can lead to war. —African
Mailbag
A gossip’s mouth is the devil’s mailbag.—Gaelic
There’s gossip every day—but, it’ll die if no one listens to it.—Chinese
Fire dies for lack of wood; if there’s no whispering, gossip stops.—Hebrew
Love God with all your heart and ignore gossipmongers.—Sicilian
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