William Shakespeare certainly had a way with words whether it was a play, sonnet or one of the many savage insults he unleashed in these texts.
Not only did the Bard of Stratford pen some of the most enduringly popular plays to ever be put to the stage, but he was also a dab hand at the cutting remark.
Shakespeare never resorted to swearing either, allowing his wit and mastery of language to shape some of the most biting insults to ever be put to the page. Here are just 17 of his very best.
17. "I am sick when I do look on thee"
A Midsummer Night's Dream (Act II, Scene i)
16. "Thou art a boil, a plague sore"
King Lear (Act II, Scene ii)
15. "Go, prick thy face, and over-red thy fear, Thou lily-liver'd boy."
Macbeth (Act V, Scene ii)
14. "Thou art as fat as butter."
Henry IV Part 1 (Act II, Scene iv)
13. "Thou elvish-mark'd, abortive, rooting hog!"
Richard III (Act I, Scene iii)
12. "The rankest compound of villainous smell that ever offended nostril"
The Merry Wives of Windsor (Act III, Scene v)
11. "Thou sodden-witted lord! Thou hast no more brain than I have in mine elbows"
Troilus and Cressida (Act II, Scene i)
10. "Would thou wert clean enough to spit upon"
Timon of Athens (Act IV, Scene iii)
9. "Methink'st thou art a general offence and every man should beat thee"
All's Well That Ends Well (Act II, Scene iii)
8. "Away, you starvelling, you elf-skin, you dried neat's-tongue, bull's-pizzle, you stock-fish!"
Henry IV Part I (Act II, Scene iv)
7. "You poor, base, rascally, cheating lack-linen mate!"
Henry IV Part II (Act II, Scene iv)
6. "Your brain is as dry as the remainder biscuit after voyage."
As You Like It (Act II, Scene vii)
5. "Thou lump of foul deformity"
Richard III (Act I, Scene ii)
4. "I scorn you, scurvy companion"
Henry IV Part II (Act II, Scene iv)
3. "I'll beat thee, but I would infect my hands"
Timon of Athens (Act IV, Scene iii)
2. "Away, you three-inch fool!"
The Taming of the Shrew (Act III, Scene iii)
1. Villain, I have done thy mother
Titus Andronicus (Act IV, Scene ii)
