There was a time when words were used beautifully. These glorious insults are from an era when elegance with words was common, before a great portion of the English language was boiled-down to four-letter words!
The exchange between Churchill and Lady Astor: She said, "If you were my husband, I'd give you poison!!" and he said, "If you were my wife, I'd take it."
Gladstone, a Member of Parliament, to Benjamin Disraeli: "Sir, you will either die on the gallows, or of some unspeakable disease."
"That depends, sir", said Disraeli, "On 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
"A modest little person, with much to be modest about." - 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)
"Poor Faulkner. Does he really think, big emotions come from big words?" - Ernest Hemingway (about William Faulkner)
"Thank you for sending me a copy of your book; I'll waste no time reading it." - Moses Hadas
"He can compress the most words into the smallest idea, of any man I know." - Abraham Lincoln
"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
"There's nothing wrong with you, that reincarnation won't cure." - Jack E. Leonard
"He has the attention span of a lightning bolt." - Robert Redford
"They never open their mouths, without subtracting from the sum of human knowledge." - Thomas Brackett Reed
"In order to avoid being called a flirt, she always yielded easily." - Charles, Count Talleyrand
"He loves nature, inspite 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
