Libel Quotes

• An injurious lie is an uncommendable thing; and so, also, and in the same degree, is an injurious truth a fact that is recognized by the law of libel .

  Mark Twain

  Lying, Law, Degrees

  Mark Twain (2013). “Delphi Complete Works of Mark Twain (Illustrated)”, p.2657, Delphi Classics

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• I am dumbfounded that there hasn't been a crackdown with the libel and slander laws on some of these would-be writers and reporters on the Internet.

  Walter Cronkite

  Law, Would Be, Internet

  "Walter Cronkite lays down his pen", www.today.com. August 17, 2004.

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• Journalists who make mistakes get sued for libel; historians who make mistakes get to publish a revised edition.

  Bill Moyers

  Mistake, Journalism, Historian

  Bill Moyers (2008). “Moyers on Democracy”, p.109, Anchor

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• Political truth is libel; religious truth, blasphemy.

  William Hazlitt

  Religious, Truth, Political

  William Hazlitt, William Ernest Henley (1904). “The Collected Works of William Hazlitt: Fugitive writings”

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• The greater the truth the greater the libel.

  Edward Law, 1st Earl of Ellenborough

  Trust, Truth, Greater

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• Truth is generally the best vindication against slander

  Abraham Lincoln

  Truth, Honesty, Slander

  Gordon Leidner, Abraham Lincoln (2009). “Abraham Lincoln: Quotes, Quips, and Speeches”, p.37, Sourcebooks, Inc.

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• As any editor will tell you, startling newsroom revelations are generally met with queries about where the information came from and how the reporter got it. Seriously startling revelations are followed by the vetting of libel lawyers.

  Graydon Carter

  Editors, Information, Lawyer

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• If by strength is meant moral power, then woman is immeasurably man's superior

  Mahatma Gandhi

  Independent, Equality, Men

  Mahatma Gandhi (2005). “All Men Are Brothers”, p.157, A&C Black

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• The problem is that in our country, they make it almost impossible for politicians to win anything. In England it's easier to win a libel suit.

  Rand Paul

  Country, Winning, Suits

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• Libel actions, when we look at them in perspective, are an ornament of a civilized society. They have replaced, after all, at least in most cases, a resort to weapons in defense of a reputation.

  Henry Anatole Grunwald

  Perspective, Ornaments, Defense

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• I've stopped caring about skeptics, but if they libel or defame me they will end up in court.

  Uri Geller

  Caring, Criticism, Fame

  "Biography/ Personal Quotes". www.imdb.com.

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• It is better, however, for his own reputation that the story-teller should risk a few actions for libel on account of these unfortunate coincidences than that he should adopt the melancholy device of using blanks or asterisks.

  James Payn

  Risk, Stories, Action

  James Payn (1882). “Sammlung”

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• To call woman the weaker sex is a libel; it is man's injustice to woman.

  Mahatma Gandhi

  Sex, Men, Injustice

  Mahatma Gandhi (1980). “All Men are Brothers: Autobiographical Reflections”, p.148, A&C Black

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• If non-violence is the Law of our being, the future is with Women.

  Mahatma Gandhi

  Equality, Law, Women Empowerment

  Mahatma Gandhi, K. Swaminathan (1988). “A Gandhi Reader”, Stosius Incorporated/Advent Books Division

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• It's a libel to say that I use my newspapers to support my other business interests. The fact is, I haven't got any other business interests.

  Rupert Murdoch

  Support, Use, Facts

  "Rupert Murdoch Has Potential". www.esquire.com. September 11, 2008.

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• When public men indulge themselves in abuse, when they deny others a fair trial, when they resort to innuendo and insinuation, to libel, scandal, and suspicion, then our democratic society is outraged, and democracy is baffled. It has no apparatus to deal with the boor, the liar, the lout, and the antidemocrat in general.

  J. William Fulbright

  Liars, Men, Indulge In

  J. William Fulbright's speech in the Senate on McCarthyism (February 2, 1954), as quoted in "Congressional Record", Volume 100 (p. 1105), 1954.

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• Wart hogs should sue for libel. It is a terrible name and they are fine fellows and devoted family men and it is rare to see one by himself; the little woman and the kiddies are usually close at hand.

  Ilka Chase

  Men, Hands, Names

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• Every libel, which is called famosus libellus, is made either against a private man, or against a public person. If it be against a private man, it deserves a severe punishment.

  Edward Coke

  Men, Made, Persons

  77 Eng. Rep. 250, 1605.

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• To call woman the weaker sex is a libel; it is man's injustice to woman. If by strength is meant brute strength, then, indeed, is woman less brute than man. If by strength is meant moral power, then woman is immeasurably man's superior. Has she not greater intuition, is she not more self-sacrificing, has she not greater powers of endurance, has she not greater courage? Without her, man could not be. If nonviolence is the law of our being, the future is with woman. Who can make a more effective appeal to the heart than woman?

  Mahatma Gandhi

  Spiritual, Sex, Heart

  Mahatma Gandhi (1930). “Young India”

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• Within hours of a tragedy unfolding, journalists and pundits should not manufacture a blood libel that serves only to incite the very hatred and violence they purport to condemn. That is reprehensible.

  Sarah Palin

  Blood, Hatred, Political

  "Palin Criticizes Manufacturers of 'Blood Libel' as Proponents of Speech Limits Cite Sharron Angle", www.foxnews.com. January 12, 2011.

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• Too many of us look upon Americans as dollar chasers. This is a cruel libel, even if it is reiterated thoughtlessly by the Americans themselves.

  Albert Einstein

  Funny, Motivational, Inspiring

  "What Life Means to Einstein". Interview with George Sylvester Viereck, The Saturday Evening Post (p. 17), October 26, 1929.

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• All the libel lawyers will tell you there's no libel any more, that everyone's given up.

  Ian Hislop

  Feet, Lawyer, Given

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• Send forth the child and childish man together, and blush for the pride that libels our own old happy state, and gives its title to an ugly and distorted image.

  Charles Dickens

  Children, Pride, Men

  Charles Dickens (2013). “Delphi Complete Works of Charles Dickens (Illustrated)”, p.2066, Delphi Classics

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• Feminism has tried to dismiss the femme fatale as a misogynist libel, a hoary cliche. But the femme fatale expresses woman's ancient and eternal control of the sexual realm. The specter of the femme fatale stalks all of men's relationships with women.

  Camille Paglia

  Men, Feminism, Ancient

  "Sex, Art and American Culture: New Essays". Book by Camille Paglia, 1992.

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• The only rules comedy can tolerate are those of taste, and the only limitations those of libel.

  James Thurber

  Taste, Comedy, Dignity

  1961 Lanterns and Lances,'The Duchess and the Bugs'.

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