I have been known to utter a few insults in my time – some of them with rather choice language.
On the look out for quotes, I came across this very appropriate one from J Russell Lynes:
“If you can’t ignore an insult, top it; if you can’t top it, laugh it off; and if you can’t laugh it off, it’s probably deserved.”
How this particular post came about, is I have been reading a book about Winston Churchill.
Aside from the story that he liked to drink champagne in the morning – the man was very witty and quick with a retort. He would have needed to be with all of the books that he wrote, the radio broadcasts that he made and the number of speeches that he made all over the world.
As I read most of my books on my Kindle, I often glance at Amazon’s suggested reading.
Todays pearler is a book on quotes from Winston Churchill and this led me off down the merry path of reading insults from a time when the people uttering them seemed to be smarter (and quite possibly the people they were thrown at were smarter too).
He always played the game, and he always lost it
Winston Churchill on Austin Chamberlain
He looked at foreign affairs through the wrong end of a municipal drainpipe
Winston Churchill on Neville Chamberlain
A nation trying to tax itself into prosperity is like a man standing in a bucket and trying to pull himself up by the handles.
How appropriate!
Even Shakespeare has some impressive witty and acidic insults and quotes:
From Twelfth Night – He speaks nothing but madman
From The Taming of the Shrew – There’s small choice in rotten apples
George Bernard Shaw didn’t appear to enjoy his work perhaps as much as I do:
It would be positive relief to dig him up and throw stones at him.
A couple more to round off with;
His mother should have thrown him away and kept the stork.
Mae West
Why do you sit there looking like an envelope without any address on it?
Mark Twain
I’m off to finish my books now. I recommend you pop on over to which ever bookseller you use and pick up both of these …
Churchill: The Greatest Briton Unmasked by Nigel Knight
The Wit and Wisdom of Winston Churchill: A Treasury of More than 1000 Quotations by James C. Humes
I keep forgetting to add my books to the Goodreads site!!
I set myself a goal of 50 books for the year (not counting silly, read-in-one-night vampire books) and I will never get there unless I remember to add them!
Are you on Goodreads? Connect with me and give me some recommendations. I’ll read pretty much anything. You can tell me what you are reading too …. http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/4995839-tara
