Midlife’s A Trip

The Spoken Word in All Its Glory

Posted on 13. Dec, 2007 by Karen in Misc

This was sent to me by a friend today.  Of all the things that get passed around these days via email, this is one of the more notable and inspiring ones.  And so I pass it on to you.  Enjoy.

A Time When Words Were Used Beautifully

There was a time when words were used  beautifully. These glorious insults are from an era when cleverness with words was still valued, before a great portion of the English language was boiled down to four-letter words.  

The exchange between Churchill and Lady Astor: She
 said, ‘If you were my husband, I’d put poison in
 your tea.’
 And he said, ‘If you were my wife, I’d drink it.”  

Gladstone, a member of Parliament, to Benjamin
 Disraeli: ‘Sir, you will either die on the gallows
 or of some unspeakable disease.’
‘That depends, sir,’ said Disraeli… ‘On 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  

‘He is 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 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 but I will be
 able to attend the second night — 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  

‘There’s nothing wrong with you that reincarnation
 won’t cure.’
 - Jack E.Leonard  

‘He has the attention span of a lightning bolt.’
  - Robert Redford  

‘They never open their mouths without  subtracting
 from the sum of human knowledge.’
 - Thomas Brackett Reed

 ’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

‘His mother should have thrown him away and kept the
 stork.
 - Mae West

‘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

‘He has Van Gogh’s ear for music.’
- Billy Wilder

‘I’ve had a perfectly wonderful evening. But this
 wasn’t it.’
 - Groucho Marx

What are the most glorious words you’ve ever spoken?
  

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