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These glorious insults are
from an era before the English language got boiled down to 4-letter words.
-The exchange between Churchill
and Lady Astor:
She said "If you were my
husband I'd poison your tea".
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".
-"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.
-"Why do you sit there looking
like an envelope without any address on it?" ...Mark Twain.
-"I stated this woman was
the ugliest woman I had ever seen. I have since been visited by her sister
and now wish to withdraw that statement." ...Mark Twain.
-"He has no enemies, but
is intensely disliked by his friends." ...Oscar Wilde.
-"Some cause happiness wherever
they go; others, whenever they go." ...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.
-"His mother should have
thrown him away and kept the stork." ...Mae West.
-"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.
144
145
WHO DOES WHAT
A man and his wife were
having an argument about who
should brew the coffee each
morning.
The wife said 'You should
do it because you get up first
and then we don't have to
wait as long to get our coffee.
The husband said 'You are
in charge of cooking around here and
you should do it, because
that is your job and I can just wait
for my coffee.'
Wife replies 'No, you should
do it and besides, it is in the Bible that the man should do the
coffee.'
Husband replies 'I can't
believe that, show me'.
So she fetched the Bible
and opened the New Testament and showed him at the top of several pages,
that it indeed says
'Hebrews'
146
"I had a rose named after
me and I was very flattered. But I was not pleased to read the description
in the catalogue; it said 'No good in a bed, but fine against a wall'."
...Eleanor Roosevelt.