My devotional reading today was about shedding those spiritual pollutants, such as backbiting, gossip, and vainglory, and comparing such idle speech to a devouring fire and a deadly poison whose effects (on both the gossiper and the one so calumnized!) endure much longer than a momentary lapse from guarding our tongue. The victim of gossip loses trust and credibility in the community if the gossip is believed and spread, and the gossiper is soon dismissed as a liar and a jerk. Perhaps the old kids’ taunt should have been, “Liar, liar, TONGUE on fire!” Here’s the quote on which this painting was based:

“That seeker must, at all times, put his trust in God, must renounce the peoples of the earth, must detach himself from the world of dust, and cleave unto Him Who is the Lord of Lords. He must never seek to exalt himself above any one, must wash away from the tablet of his heart every trace of pride and vain-glory, must cling unto patience and resignation, observe silence and refrain from idle talk. For the tongue is a smoldering fire, and excess of speech a deadly poison. Material fire consumeth the body, whereas the fire of the tongue devoureth both heart and soul. The force of the former lasteth but for a time, whilst the effects of the latter endureth a century.”
(Baha'u'llah, Tablet of the True Seeker, Gleanings from the Writings of Baha'u'llah, p. 264)