People Will Talk Quotes

“Superior people talk about ideas. Mediocre people talk about things. Little people talk about other people.”
― John Whitfield, People Will Talk: The Surprising Science of Reputation

“Your character belongs to you; your reputation belongs to other people, who have their own interests at heart, and they use it to control you, not to depict you.”
― John Whitfield, People Will Talk: The Surprising Science of Reputation

“The issue isn't whether your reputation is based on accurate information. It's that you can't control how people interpret that information. In general when people tell stories about one another they emphasize the characters and their deeds and downplay the details of the situation that might have shaped or excused those deeds.”
― John Whitfield, People Will Talk: The Surprising Science of Reputation

“Gratitude reinforces what is benefiting you because Spirit is always inclined to give you more of what you recognize and acknowledge. The greater your gratitude, the more you will receive that for which you are grateful.”
― John Whitfield, People Will Talk: The Surprising Science of Reputation

“Passing on some useful or entertaining tidbit about another person is a sign of commitment. If you jeopardize your relationship with the subject of the gossip about him or her, you show that you value whom you're talking with more than whom you're talking about. Yet even more simply than that, we show people we value them by agreeing with them. The innocent urge to make friends and avoid giving offense has a profound influence on how we use gossip and the reputations that result from it.”
― John Whitfield, People Will Talk: The Surprising Science of Reputation