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