Rebukes are easy from our betters, / From men of quality and letters; / But when low dunces will affront, / What man alive can stand the brunt?

 —Jonathan Swift

A wise man is superior to any insults which can be put upon him, and the best reply to unseemly behavior is patience and moderation.

 —Moliere

A stiff apology is a second insult…. The injured party does not want to be compensated because he has been wronged; he wants to be healed because he has been hurt.

 —G.K. Chesterton

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.

 —J. Russel Lynes

I’ve always followed my father’s advice: He told me, first, to always keep my word and, second, to never insult anybody unintentionally. If I insult you, you can be goddam sure I intend to. And, third, he told me not to go around looking for trouble.

 —John Wayne

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

You will find that silence or very gentle words are the most exquisite revenge for insult.

—Judge Hall

Never insult an alligator until you’ve crossed the river.

—Cordell Hull

Daily life is governed by an economic system in which the production and consumption of insults tends to balance out.

—Raoul Vaneigem

Insults should be written in sand, compliments should be carved in stone.

 —Arab proverb

There are two insults no human being will endure: that he has no sense of humor, and that he has never known trouble.

—Sinclair Lewis

Insults are the arguments employed by those who are wrong.

—Jacques Rousseau

Never offend people with style when you can offend them with substance.

 —Sam Brown