When Insults Had Class

When Insults Had Class

These glorious insults are from an era before the English language got boiled down to 4-letter words.

** The exchange between Churchill & Lady Astor:
She said, "If you were my husband I'd give you poison."
He said, "If you were my wife, I'd drink it."

** A member of Parliament to Disraeli: "Sir, you will either die on the gallows or of
some unspeakable disease."
"That depends, Sir," said Disraeli, "whether I embrace your policies or your mistress."

** "He had delusions of adequacy." - Walter Kerr

** "He has all the virtues I dislike and none of the vices I admire." - Winston Churchill

** "I have never killed a man, but I have read many obituaries with great pleasure."
Clarence Darrow

** "He has never been known to use a word that might send a reader to the dictionary." - William Faulkner (about Ernest Hemingway).

** "Thank you for sending me a copy of your book; I'll waste no time reading it." - Moses Hadas

** "I didn't attend the funeral, but I sent a nice letter saying I approved of it." - Mark Twain

** "He has no enemies, but is intensely disliked by his friends.." - Oscar Wilde

** "I am enclosing two tickets to the first night of my new play; bring a friend.... if you
have one." - George Bernard Shaw to Winston Churchill
"Cannot possibly attend first night, will attend second.... if there is one." - Winston
Churchill, in response.

** "I feel so miserable without you; it's almost like having you here." - Stephen Bishop

** "He is a self-made man and worships his creator." - John Bright

** "I've just learned about his illness. Let's hope it's nothing trivial." - Irvin S. Cobb

** "He is not only dull himself; he is the cause of dullness in others." - Samuel Johnson

** "He is simply a shiver looking for a spine to run up." - Paul Keating

** "In order to avoid being called a flirt, she always yielded easily." - Charles, Count Talleyrand

** "He loves nature in spite of what it did to him." - Forrest Tucker

** "Why do you sit there looking like an envelope without any address on it?" - Mark Twain

** "His mother should have thrown him away and kept the stork." - Mae West

** "Some cause happiness wherever they go; others, whenever they go.." - Oscar Wilde

** "He uses statistics as a drunken man uses lamp-posts... for support rather than illumination." -
Andrew Lang (1844-1912)

** "He has Van Gogh's ear for music." - Billy Wilder

** "I've had a perfectly wonderful evening. But this wasn't it." - Groucho Marx

Some great lines.