Witty mockery is where sometimes the flexibility of language shows best. It is not easy to tell what you think about someone without being rude, but when you can do it, your words go down in history. Here's a short collection of famous put-down phrases:

"He has all the virtues I dislike and none of the vices I admire."

—Winston Churchill

"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

"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've had a perfectly wonderful evening. But this wasn't it."

—Groucho Marx

"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, will attend second . . . 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

"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

"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)

"He inherited some good instincts from his Quaker forebears, but by diligent hard work, he overcame them."

—James Reston (about Richard Nixon)

"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 has Van Gogh's ear for music."

—Billy Wilder

If you want me to read your mind, give me more to work with.

—One of Eric Slinn's coworkers