-- Jimmy Swaggart

"The great mass of people...will more easily fall victim to a big lie than to a small one."

-- Adolf Hitler

This is some of the spin you'll hear after a public figure (aka "Defendant") gets caught in a scandal:

We're all human.

We all make mistakes.

As the Bible says: "Let he who is without sin cast the first stone."

There was a lapse in judgement.

There was an error in judgement.

This is a private matter that's being dragged through the press.

This is a fishing expedition.

There's no smoking gun.

You have to question the timing of this story.

One incident should not tarnish his many years of distinguished public service.

I'm sure he can rise above this.

The true test of character is how you handle adversity.

He regrets any pain he may have caused.

He has faced this matter with dignity and honor.

He has freely admitted his mistake.

He has taken full responsibilty for his actions.

He has begun to reconcile with his family.

It's time to move on.

It's time to move forward.

We must put this unfortunate chapter behind us.

We must let the healing process begin.

"The first rule of business is: Do other men for they would do you..."

-- Charles Dickens

"Even castles made from sand fall to the ocean..."

-- Jimi Hendrix, Songwriter, Poet

...and of course, there's always other Dissenting views in hope that you might never need a "Spinmeister!:"

"First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win."

-- Mahatma Ghandi

"I believe there will ultimately be a clash between the oppressed and those doing the oppressing. I believe that there will be a clash between those who want freedom, justice and equality for everyone and those who want to continue the system of exploitation. I believe that there will be that kind of clash, but I don't think it will be based on the colour of the skin. You're not to be so blind with patriotism that you can't face reality. Wrong is wrong, no matter who does it or says it."

-- Malcolm X

"Always do right; this will gratify some people and astonish the rest."

-- Mark Twain

"In the End, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends."

-- Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

"Say what you mean and mean what you say."

-- The Cheshire Cat

"An oppressive government is more to be feared than a tiger."

-- Confucius

"No, I don't understand my husband's theory of relativity, but I know my husband and I know he can be trusted."

-- Elsa Einstein

"What is moral is what you feel good after, and what is immoral is what you feel bad after."

-- Ernest Hemingway

"All truths are easy to understand once they are discovered; the point is to discover them."

-- Galileo Galilei

"The only way to enjoy anything in this life is to earn it first."

-- Ginger Rogers

"What shall it profit a man if he gains the whole world but loses his soul."

-- Jesus Christ

"Constantly choosing the lesser of two evils is still choosing evil."

-- Jerry Garcia

"Beauty is truth, and truth is beauty."

-- John Keats

"Courage is being scared to death - but saddling up anyway."

-- John Wayne

"Always be a first-rate version of yourself, instead of a second-rate version of somebody else."

-- Judy Garland

"But who is to guard the guards themselves?"

-- Juvenal

"It is not enough to have a good mind. The main thing is to use it well."

-- Rene Descartes

"If you can walk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with Kings - nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And - which is more - you'll be a Man, my son!"

-- Rudyard Kipling

It is not the critic who counts. Not the man who points out how the strong man stumbled or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause. Who at the best, knows in the end the trimph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, at least falls while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat."

-- Theodore Roosevelt

"And this above all unto thine own self be true and it shall follow as the day the night - thou can'st not then be false to any man."

-- William Shakespeare

"But I, being poor, have only my dreams; I have spread my dreams under your feet; Tread softly because you tread on my dreams."

-- W B Yeats


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"My whole goal is to keep my spirit intact. If that doesn't happen, none of this is worth it."

-- Jewel, Songwriter, Poet

-- Sojourner Truth