When Insults Had Class

“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’ve had a perfectly wonderful evening. But this wasn’t it.”

— Groucho Marx

“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

“He had delusions of adequacy.”

— Walter Kerr

“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 inherited some good instincts from his Quaker forebears, but by diligent hard work, he overcame them.”

— James Reston (about Richard Nixon)

“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

hehe :D