I picked up this excellent book in the UK a few years ago. This collection features every derogatory comment and insult from all thirty-eight of Shakespeare's plays. A wealth of witty comments. There are far too many to list here but I have included some of my favorites below:
- He has everything that an honest man should not have; what an honest man should have, he has nothing
- All’s Well That Ends Well
- He excels his brother for a coward, yet his brother is reputed one of the best that is
- All’s Well That Ends Well
- His brain is as dry as the remainder biscuit after a voyage
- As You Like It
- You are falser than vows made in wine
- As You Like It
- Breath of garlic-eaters!
–Coriolanus
- Take you me for a sponge?
–Hamlet
- You leather-jerkin, crystal-button, knot-pated, agate-ring, puke-stocking, caddis-garter, smooth-tongue, Spanish pouch!
–Henry IV Part 1
- You villainous abominable misleader of youth!
–Henry IV Part 1
- His face is Lucifer’s privy-kitchen, where he doth nothing but roast malt-worms.
–Henry IV Part 2
- He be as good a gentleman as the devil is
–Henry V
- I will not answer thee with words, but blows
–Henry VI Part 1
- Unworthy though thou art, I will cope with thee
–Henry VI Part 2
- He begins a new hell in himself
–Henry VIII
- All goodness is poison to thy stomach
–Henry VIII
- He thinks too much; such men are dangerous
–Julius Caesar
- You have some sick offence within your min
d –Julius Caesar
- You are not worth the dust which the rude wind blows in your face
–King Lear
- Fit to govern? No, not fit to live
–Macbeth
- Your sole name blisters our tongue
–Macbeth
- Come, you are a tedious fool! To the purpose
–Measure for Measure
- I pray a thousand prayers for thy death; no words to save thee
–Measure for Measure
- You cowardly, giant-like ox-beef!
–A Midsummer Night’s Dream
- Being no other but as she is, I do not like her
–Much Ado About Nothing
- You are duller than a great thaw
–Much Ado About Nothing
- You are an index and prologue to the history of lust and foul thoughts
–Othello
- God and good men hate so foul a liar
–Richard II
- Out of my sight! Thou dost infect my eyes
. –Richard III
- Thou art unfit for any place but hell
–Richard III
- A fan to hide her face, for her fan’s the fairer face!
–Romeo and Juliet
- You three-inch fool!
–The Taming of the Shrew
- Does thy other mouth call me?
–The Tempest
- Thou disease of a friend!
–Timon of Athens
- He has not so much a brain as ear-wax
–Troilus and Cressida
- Female Bastard!
–The Winter’s Tale