I have been reading Patrick O'Brian's
Aubrey-Maturin series. If you think you have a pretty good
vocabulary, give it a try -- good old Billy Shakespeare would
probably have a run for the money with those books - I love 'em.
On the street, in the office, at home, people are insulted every
day. Today, it's all guttural and obscene language that shows
little, if any, class - back in the old days, it seemed to have even
been possible to curse with class. Now, with all the swear words
roaming around, I got this from a friend showing:
THE RIGHT WAY TO INSULT PEOPLE USING
REAL ENGLISH!!
These glorious insults are from an era before the English language
got boiled down to 4-letter words.
Pay attention for Churchill and his wonderful dryness.
Too, you always have to admire Mae West's way with words:
"His
mother should have thrown him away and kept the stork." - Mae
West
*************"He has never been known to use a word that might
send a reader to the
dictionary." - William Faulkner (about Ernest Hemingway).
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."
************"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
"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
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