When Insults Had Class...
kyn:
“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)
“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
“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)
“I’ve had a perfectly wonderful evening. But this wasn’t it.” - Groucho Marx
“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
“He has Van Gogh’s ear for music.” - Billy Wilder
“He can compress the most words into the smallest idea of any man I know.” - Abraham Lincoln
“A modest little person, with much to be modest about.” - Winston Churchill
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.”
(via an email from my mother) via mmpearls
