The Magnificent Ambersons and Other Works Quotes

“People who have repeated a slander either get ashamed or forget it if they're let alone. Challenge them, and in self-defense they believe everything they've said; they'd rather believe you a sinner than believe themselves liars, naturally. Submit to gossip and you kill it, fight it, and you make it strong. People will forget almost any slander except the one that's been fought.”
― Booth Tarkington, The Magnificent Ambersons and Other Works