The stressful times we live in contribute to road rage and other nasty verbal interactions between people.

But insults in past eras were far more elaborate than the four letter words many people use today. Thanks to the English Literature Community for these examples of insults from the past.  

1. "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, I will attend the second...If there is one."

- Winston Churchill, in response.

3. "He had delusions of adequacy." - Walter Kerr

4. "I have never killed a man, but I have read many obituaries with great pleasure."

- Clarence Darrow

5. "He has never been known to use a word that might send a reader to the dictionary."

- William Faulkner (about Ernest Hemingway).

6."Thank you for sending me a copy of your book; I'll waste no time reading it."

- Moses Hadas

7. "I didn't attend the funeral, but I sent a nice letter saying I approved of it."

- Mark Twain

8. "He has no enemies, but is intensely disliked by his friends.."

- Oscar Wilde

10."He is a self-made man and worships his creator."

- John Bright

11. "I've just learned about his illness. Let's hope it's nothing trivial."

- Irvin S. Cobb

12. "He is not only dull himself; he is the cause of dullness in others."

- Samuel Johnson