Glorious Insults from Golden Age of the English Language

Brilliant indeed!

Lady Astor: “If you were my husband I’d give you poison!”
Winson Churchill: “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.”
Disraeli: “That depends, Sir, 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

“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 simply a shiver looking for a spine to run up.”
Paul Keating

“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 in spite of what it did to him.”
Forrest Tucker