Ashley

“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

“I wish it need not have happened in my time," said Frodo.
"So do I," said Gandalf, "and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring

“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

“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