One can't be very frivolous when there is no one to be frivolous with; nor can one backbite and be unkind, for there is no provocation.
"Olivia in India"
O. Douglas
And now they backbite: "All is vanity!"
"Prophets of Dissent Essays on Maeterlinck, Strindberg, Nietzsche and Tolstoy"
Otto Heller
The first thing old backbite said when he heard of it was, 'H'm!
"Marion's Faith."
Charles King