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 reply
I am reminded of another story about Churchill. He was old, and in parliament, and someone said in a whisper, how old and infirm he was looking
From his seat came a gravelly voiced response
"Yes, but his hearing is excellent"
Apparently people were always trying to impress him with their wit and knowledge of the English language.
A lady said to Churchill "Did you know that 'sugar' is the only word in the English language where "s" is pronounced "sh"? He replied, "Are you sure, Madam?"
