Lake View Too
SoWal Insider
When Insults Had Class
These glorious insults are from an era before the English language got boiled down to 4-letter words..
· 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
