When we hear a sharp line or a play on words we generally want to write it down so that we can remember it and maybe even use it at the appropriate time. But, as ever, when we want to recall or retell that line it is sometimes hard to retrieve it from that grey cell area that we have hidden it in.
Here is a list of insults, retorts or sayings that may bring a chuckle or a cringe to the reader — some are borrowed, some are remembered but rest assured, none whatsoever are this writer's!
'I like your opera. I think I will set it to music.' [Beethoven on another composer's work.]
'All morons hate it when you call them a moron.' [JD Salinger in Catcher in the Rye.]
'How could they tell?' [Dorothy Parker on the death of Calvin Coolidge.]
'He has no enemies but is extremely 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,' wrote George Bernard Shaw to Winston Churchill, who replied; 'Cannot possibly attend first night but will attend second — if there is one!'
'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.]
