A graceful taunt is worth a thousand insults.
By indignities men come to dignities.
Calumny is only the noise of madmen.
Daily life is governed by an economic system in which the production and consumption of insults tends to balance out.
Even rabbits insult an dead lion.
He who dares to speak with a razor sharp tongue, shall in end, bare the final scar.
He who puts up with insult invites injury.
I am not going to spend any time whatsoever in attacking the Foreign Secretary. If we complain about the tune, there is no reason to attack the monkey when the organ grinder is present.
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.
Insults are the arguments employed by those who are in the wrong.
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.
It is often better not to see an insult than to avenge it.
Little enemies and little wounds must not be despised.
Never insult an alligator until you've crossed the river.
Never offend people with style when you can offend them with substance.
No one can be as calculatedly rude as the British, which amazes Americans, who do not understand studied insult and can only offer abuse as a substitute.
Oppression is more easily endured than insult.
People think that they just want movies like Pretty Woman, when really they — at least the ones that I know personally — have been waiting for something that doesn't completely insult them.
The best way to procure insults is to submit to them.
The only gracious way to accept an insult is to ignore it; if you can't ignore it, top it; if you can't top it, laugh at it; if you can't laugh at it, it's probably deserved.