Write your injuries in dust, your benefits in marble.
—Benjamin Franklin (1706–90) American Political Leader, Inventor, Diplomat
O!, many a shaft at random sent
Finds mark the archer little meant!
And many a word at random spoken
May soothe, or wound, a heart that ‘s broken!
—Walter Scott (1771–1832) Scottish Novelist, Poet, Playwright, Lawyer
It is a weakness of your human nature to hate those whom you have wronged.
—Tacitus (56–117) Roman Orator, Historian
Slanderers do not hurt me because they do not hit me.
—Socrates (469BCE–399BCE) Ancient Greek Philosopher
Speak not injurious words, neither in jest nor earnest; scoff at none although they give occasion.
—George Washington (1732–99) American Head of State, Military Leader
It is often better not to see an insult than to avenge it.
—Seneca the Younger (Lucius Annaeus Seneca) (c.4 BCE–65 CE) Roman Stoic Philosopher, Statesman, Tragedian
You will find that silence or very gentle words are the most exquisite revenge for insult.
—Indian Proverb
Be thou chaste as ice, and pure as snow, thou shalt not escape calumny.
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616) British Playwright
It is not he who gives abuse that affronts, but the view that we take of it as insulting; so that when one provokes you it is your own opinion which is provoking.
—Epictetus (55–135) Ancient Greek Philosopher
If a man could say nothing against a character but what he can prove, history could not be written.
—Samuel Johnson (1709–84) British Essayist
It is a strange desire, to seek power and lose liberty, or to seek power over others and to lose power over a man’s self. The rising unto place is laborious, and by pains men come to greater pains, and it is sometimes base; and by indignities men come to dignities. The standing is slippery, and the regress is either a downfall or at least an eclipse, which is a melancholy thing.
—Francis Bacon (1561–1626) English Philosopher
Man is much more sensitive to the contempt of others than to self-contempt.
—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900) German Philosopher, Scholar, Writer
Her face was her chaperone.
—Rupert Hughes (1872–1956) American Historian, Novelist, Film Director, Composer
A man calumniated is doubly injured—first by him who utters the calumny, and then by him who believes it.
—Herodotus (c.485–425 BCE) Ancient Greek Historian
Just the omission of Jane Austen’s books alone would make a fairly good library out of a library that hadn’t a book in it.
—Mark Twain (1835–1910) American Humorist
When any one has offended me, I try to raise my soul so high that the offense cannot reach it.
—Rene Descartes (1596–1650) French Mathematician, Philosopher
He who puts up with insult invites injury.
—Yiddish Proverb
Every one in a crowd has the power to throw dirt; none out of ten have the inclination.
—William Hazlitt (1778–1830) English Essayist
Calumny is only the noise of madmen.
—Diogenes Laertius (f.3rd Century CE) Biographer of the Greek Philosophers
Slander cannot destroy the man … when the flood recedes, the rock is there.
—Chinese Proverb
Our disputants put me in mind of the cuttlefish that, when he is unable to extricate himself, blackens the water about him till he becomes invisible.
—Joseph Addison (1672–1719) English Essayist, Poet, Playwright, Politician
Backbite: To “speak of a man as you find him” when he can’t find you.
—Ambrose Bierce (1842–1913) American Short-story Writer, Journalist
A graceful taunt is worth a thousand insults.
—Louis Nizer (1902–1994) American Lawyer, Author
She looked as if she had been poured into her clothes and had forgotten to say ‘when.’
—P. G. Wodehouse (1881–1975) British Novelist, Short-story Writer, Playwright
I have no right, by anything I do or say, to demean a human being in his own eyes. What matters is not what I think of him; it is what he thinks of himself. To undermine a man’s self-respect is a sin.
—Antoine de Saint-Exupery (1900–44) French Novelist, Aviator
There are two insults no human will endure: the assertion that he has no sense of humor and the doubly impertinent assertion that he has never known trouble.
—Sinclair Lewis (1885–1951) American Novelist, Short-Story Writer
There is a principle which is a bar against all information, which is proof against all argument and which cannot fail to keep a man in everlasting ignorance. This principle is contempt prior to examination.
—Herbert Spencer (1820–1903) English Polymath, Philosopher, Sociologist, Political Theorist
I’ve had a wonderful evening – but this wasn’t it.
—Groucho Marx (1890–1977) American Actor, Comedian, Singer
It takes your enemy and your friend, working together, to hurt you to the heart; the one to slander you and the other to get the news to you.
—Mark Twain (1835–1910) American Humorist
What is said of a man is nothing. The point is, who says it.
—Oscar Wilde (1854–1900) Irish Poet, Playwright
To vilify a great man is the readiest way in which a little man can himself attain greatness.
—Edgar Allan Poe (1809–49) American Poet
The first human being who hurled an insult instead of a stone was the founder of civilization.
—Sigmund Freud (1856–1939) Austrian Psychiatrist, Psychoanalytic
The slanders poured down like Niagara. If you take into consideration the setting—the war and the revolution—and the character of the accused—revolutionary leaders of millions who were conducting their party to the sovereign power—you can say without exaggeration that July 1917 was the month of the most gigantic slander in world history.
—Leon Trotsky (1879–1940) Russian Marxist Revolutionary
There is nothing that people bear more impatiently, or forgive less, than contempt: and an injury is much sooner forgotten than an insult.
—Earl of Chesterfield (1694–1773) English Statesman, Man of Letters
Little enemies and little wounds must not be despised.
—Common Proverb
I will make a bargain with the Republicans. If they will stop telling lies about Democrats, we will stop telling the truth about them.
—Adlai Stevenson (1900–65) American Diplomat, Politician, Orator
No one is safe from slander. The best way is to pay no attention to it, but live in innocence and let the world talk.
—Moliere (1622–73) French Playwright
The way to procure insults is to submit to them. A man meets with no more respect than he exacts.
—William Hazlitt (1778–1830) English Essayist
In nine times out of ten, the slanderous tongue belongs to a disappointed person.
—George Bancroft (1800–91) American Historian, Politician
Yes, Agassiz does recommend authors to eat fish, because the phosphorus in it makes brain. So far you are correct. But I cannot help you to a decision about the amount you need to eat – at least, not with certainty. If the specimen composition you send is about your fair usual average, I should judge that a couple of whales would be all you would want for the present. Not the largest kind, but simply good middling-sized whales.
—Mark Twain (1835–1910) American Humorist
Some cause happiness wherever they go; others, whenever they go.
—Oscar Wilde (1854–1900) Irish Poet, Playwright
He who does not shield himself from vilification receives it.
—Arabic Proverb
Insults are the arguments employed by those who are in the wrong.
—Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712–78) Swiss-born French Philosopher
She looks as if butter wouldn’t melt in her mouth.
—Jonathan Swift (1667–1745) Irish Satirist
A slander is like a hornet; if you can’t kill it dead the first time, better not strike at it.
—Josh Billings (Henry Wheeler Shaw) (1818–85) American Humorist, Author, Lecturer
O, she is the antidote to desire.
—William Congreve (1670–1729) English Playwright, Poet
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.
—Russell Lynes (1910–91) American Art Historian, Photographer, Author, Editor
Let nobody speak mischief of anybody.
—Plato (428 BCE–347 BCE) Ancient Greek Philosopher, Mathematician, Educator
Rudeness is better than any argument; it totally eclipses intellect.
—Arthur Schopenhauer (1788–1860) German Philosopher
Coolidge was known for his terse speech and reticence. A woman bet her friend that she could get Coolidge to speak to her, which was something he was reluctant to do. She went up to him and said: “Hello, Mr. President, I bet my friend that I could get you to say three words to me”. “You lose,” Coolidge replied dryly, and walked away.
—Unknown