“Rumors spread fast, and they grow. I know. You want to either deny them, or disarm them”
“But when you disarm them, you at once offend them by showing that you distrust them, either for cowardice or for want of loyalty, and either of these opinions breeds hatred against you.”
“Denying rumors gave them more power.”
“You can hear rumors. But you can't know them.”
“Half of them loved her like a daughter, and other half wanted to spread her legs, but either sort would die for her.”
“I wanted people to trust me, despite anything they'd heard. And more than that, I wanted them to know me. Not the stuff they thought they knew about me. No, the real me. I wanted them to get past the rumors. To see beyond the relationships I once had, or maybe still had but that they didn't agree with.”