Glenna, 1960
Glenna Stearman Park sent these quotations and commented, “These glorious insults are from an era before the English language got boiled down to 4-letter words.”
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.”
Walter Kerr: “He had delusions of adequacy.”
Winston Churchill: “He has all the virtues I dislike and none of the vices I admire.”
Clarence Darrow: “I have never killed a man, but I have read many obituaries with great pleasure.”
William Faulkner about Ernest Hemingway: “He has never been known to use a word that might send a reader to the dictionary.”
Moses Hadas: “Thank you for sending me a copy of your book; I’ll waste no time reading it.”
Mark Twain: “I didn’t attend the funeral, but I sent a nice letter saying I approved of it.”
Oscar Wilde: “He has no enemies, but is intensely disliked by his friends.”
George Bernard Shaw to Winston Churchill: “I am enclosing two tickets to the first night of my new play; bring a friend, if you have one. “
Winston Churchill in response: “Cannot possibly attend first night, will attend second… if there is one.”
Stephen Bishop: “I feel so miserable without you; it’s almost like having you here.”
John Bright: “He is a self-made man and worships his creator.”
Irvin S. Cobb: “I’ve just learned about his illness. Let’s hope it’s nothing trivial.”
Samuel Johnson: “He is not only dull himself; he is the cause of dullness in others.”
Paul Keating: “He is simply a shiver looking for a spine to run up.”
Charles, Count Talleyrand: “In order to avoid being called a flirt, she always yielded easily.”
Forrest Tucker: “He loves nature in spite of what it did to him.”
Mark Twain: “Why do you sit there looking like an envelope without any address on it?”
Mae West: “His mother should have thrown him away and kept the stork.”
Oscar Wilde: “Some cause happiness wherever they go; others, whenever they go.”
Andrew Lang: “He uses statistics as a drunken man uses lamp-posts… for support rather than illumination. “
Billy Wilder: “He has Van Gogh’s ear for music.”
Groucho Marx: “I’ve had a perfectly wonderful evening. But I’m afraid this wasn’t it.”
