Tea at Trianon: Before You Gossip

John Wilson Croker on Marie-Antoinette

"We have followed the history of Marie Antoinette with the greatest diligence and scrupulosity. We have lived in those times. We have talked with some of her friends and some of her enemies; we have read, certainly not all, but hundreds of the libels written against her; and we have, in short, examined her life with– if we may be allowed to say so of ourselves– something of the accuracy of contemporaries, the diligence of inquirers, and the impartiality of historians, all combined; and we feel it our duty to declare, in as a solemn a manner as literature admits of, our well-matured opinion that every reproach against the morals of the queen was a gross calumny– that she was, as we have said, one of the purest of human beings."

~from History of the Guillotine by John Wilson Croker, 1844

Edmund Burke on Marie-Antoinette

"It is now sixteen or seventeen years since I saw the queen of France, then dauphiness, at Versailles; and surely there never lighted on this orb, which she hardly seemed to touch, a more delightful vision. I saw her just above the horizon, decorating and cheering the elevated sphere she had just begun to move in, glittering like a morning star full of life and splendor and joy. Oh, what a revolution....Little did I dream that I should have lived to see such disasters fall upon her, in a nation of gallant men, in a nation of men of honor and of cavaliers! I thought ten thousand swords must have leaped from their scabbards, to avenge even a look which threatened her with insult. But the age of chivalry is gone; that of sophisters, economists, and calculators has succeeded...."

~Edmund Burke, October 1790

Thursday, January 14, 2010

Before You Gossip

Ask yourself this....

"Gossip is high stakes in the Internet age," says Sam Chapman, the CEO of Empower, the public-relations agency that banned gossip. "It's emotionally lethal. It's leading to suicides." He tells other corporate executives: "A fish rots from the head down. If you stop gossip in your own life and bring it to the attention of your community, then people will follow your leadership."

Julygirl said...: We have all been victimns of gossip, yet no one will admit to being one. Because of the sly and devious nature of a gossip, it is easier to deal with a Bully. Since Gossips are cowards I think they should be confronted face to face with what they have done and told to crawl back under their rock. However, the power derived from it is addictive.; January 14, 2010 at 6:56:00 AM EST
lara77 said...: I came from a large family(many aunts,uncles and cousins.) I can so remember the adults talking about other relatives and naturally as a child you would hear the stories and spread them among the other cousins.I look back and think of all the people, young and old that were hurt by malicious gossip. The old saying that we treat others as we wish to be treated rings so true.; January 16, 2010 at 11:37:00 AM EST