Defamation

"For enemies carry about slander not in the form in which it took its rise. * * * The scandal of men is everlasting; even then does it survive when you would suppose it to be dead."

"Homines qui gestant, quique auscultant crimina, Si meo arbitratu liceat, omnes pendeant, Gestores linguis, auditores auribus."

"Soft-buzzing Slander; silly moths that eat An honest name."

"Nihil est autem tam volucre, quam maledictum; nihil facilius emittitur; nihil citius excipitur, latius dissipatur."

"Calumny is only the noise of madmen."

"A nickname a man may chance to wear out; but a system of calumny, pursued by a faction, may descend even to posterity. This principle has taken full effect on this state favorite."

"There are calumnies against which even innocence loses courage."

"Everything printed or written, which reflects on the character of another, and is published without lawful justification or excuse, is a libel, whatever the intention may have been."

"It is not the truth or falsehood that makes a libel, but the temper with which it is published."

"It was the rule of Holt, Chief Justice, to make words actionable whenever they sound to the disreputation of the person of whom they were spoken; and this was also Hale's and Twieden's rule; and I think it a very good rule."

"Libelling against a private man is a moral offence; but when it is against a government, it tends to the destruction of it."

"Why are libels against individuals prosecuted? Because they have a tendency to provoke the party to whom they are sent to a breach of the peace."

"His reputation is his property, and, if possible, more valuable than other property."

"A good name is better than precious ointment."

"He that filches from me my good name, Robs me of that which not enriches him, And makes me poor indeed."