The first ever metamorphosis of a butterfly into a slug. George Galloway, re Christopher Hitchens
A drink-sodden ex-Trotskyist poppingjay. George Galloway, re Christopher Hitchens
He is a sewer-pipe sucker. He sucks the sewer-pipe. Alexander Haig, re Christopher Hitchens
What a truly disgusting sack of shit Hitchens is. Alexander Cockburn, 20th August 2005
The character of the book God is Not Great which my brother wrote is one entirely of the jeering, the mocking, the caricature, the picking out of that which is bad. Peter Hitchens v Christopher Hitchens 2008
Coterminous with Hitchens’ shift on imperialism was a definite move to the right. He ceased, for instance, to call himself a socialist. He began to reminisce about his admiration for Margaret Thatcher, and expatiate on the virtues of capitalism. Capitalism was more revolutionary than its opponents, he suggested. In fact, Hitchens went so far as to say that he regretted not having voted for Margaret Thatcher in 1979 and that he had actually wanted her to win. Unemployment, union-bashing, homophobia, and nationalism are of little consequence in this equation, since the ‘radical, revolutionary forces’ were led by the Right, who broke the ‘political consensus’. This is a fairly consistent theme for Hitchens, inasmuch as he needs to believe that whatever his position is on a given topic on a given day, it is contrary to whatever the consensus is. Richard Seymour, article November 2005, ‘The Genocidal Imagination of Christopher Hitchins’
I am profoundly disappointed with this work [Hitchens’ God is Not Great]. It is his weakest book yet ... The book is filled with logical inconsistencies, factual inaccuracies and blatant untruths. In a nutshell Christopher Hitchens is a secular fundamentalist fanatic. He falls prey to mankind’s most base instinct: namely hatred. He hates Religion. He even hates God which is difficult since He doesn’t exist. And more importantly, he hates hope. Rabbi Shmuley Boteache, 30th January 2008 New York
So where’s this barnacle-bottomed haddock-flavoured bilge rat Sir-rather-a-wally-Raleigh then? Blackadder II: Potato, Blackadder to Elizabeth, with Melchett & Nursie, BBC 1986
He lived a hypocrite and died a traitor. John Foster, re Cromwell
In short, every beast hath some evil properties; but Cromwell hath the properties of all evil beasts. Archbishop John Williams to King Charles at Oxford, cited Hackett’s Life of Archbishop Williams
The English monster, the center of mischief, a shame to the British Chronicle, a pattern for tyranny, murder and hypocrisie, whose bloody Tyranny will quite drown the name of Nero, Caligula, Domitian, having at last attained the height of his Ambition, for Five years space he wallowed in the blood of many Gallant and Heroick Persons. William Winstanley, cited W C Abbott
It is high time for me to put an end to your sitting in this place which you have dishonored by your contempt of all virtue, and defiled by your practice of every vice. Ye are a factious crew, and enemies to all good government. Ye are a pack of mercenary wretches, and would like Esau sell your country for a mess of pottage, and like Judas betray your God for a few pieces of money. Is there a single virtue now remaining amongst you? Is there one vice you do not possess? Ye have no more religion than my horse. Gold is your God. Which of you have not bartered your conscience for bribes? Is there a man amongst you that has the least care for the good of the Commonwealth? Ye sordid prostitutes have you not defiled this sacred place, and turned the Lord's temple into a den of thieves, by your immoral principles and wicked practices? Ye are grown intolerably odious to the whole nation. You were deputed here by the people to get grievances redressed, are yourselves become the greatest grievance. Your country therefore calls upon me to cleanse this Augean stable, by putting a final period to your iniquitous proceedings in this House; and which by God’s help, and the strength he has given me, I am now come to do. I command ye therefore, upon the peril of your lives, to depart immediately out of this place. Go, get you out! Make haste! Ye venal slaves be gone! So! Take away that shining bauble there, and lock up the doors. In the name of God, go! Oliver Cromwell
George IV: obituary in The Times newspaper had this to say: ‘There never was an individual regretted less by his fellow creatures than this diseased king. What eye has wept for him?’ Dr Lucy Worsley, Fit to Rule: How Royal Illness Changed History II: Bad Blood: Stuarts to Hanoverians, BBC 2013
Blair from the first moment I became aware of him there was something about him that really really irritated me ... Fuck off! Martin Rowson, cartoonist
If I saw Mr [Charles] Haughey buried at midnight at a crossroads, with a stake driven through his heart – politically speaking – I should continue to wear a clove of garlic round my neck, just in case. Conor Cruise O’Brien, Observer 10th October 1982
When you look at Prince Charles, don’t you think that someone in the Royal family knew someone in the Royal family? Robin Williams
Obama is notoriously a liar. He promised that he would get out of Iraq by I think within sixteen months at some point. Webster Tarpley, author & historian
He [Reagan] knows less about the budget than any president in my lifetime. He can’t even carry on a conversation about the budget. It’s an absolute and utter disgrace. Tip O’Neill
The deaths lie on him [Reagan] and the defeat in Lebanon lies on him and him alone ... The trouble with this fellow is he tries to be tough rather than smart. Tip O’Neill
Poor dear, there’s nothing between his [Reagan’s] ears. Margaret Thatcher to official, cited Peter Jenkins, Mrs Thatcher’s Revolution
A shameful putrid scab, an embarrassingly ludicrous monstrosity who makes one ashamed to be British. Stephen Fry, re Thatcher
I’ll stand on your grave and tramp the dirt down. Elvis Costello, re Thatcher
Odious and suburban. Jonathan Miller, re Thatcher
On behalf of the people of Ulster I brand you a traitor and a liar. Reverend Ian Paisley, 22nd February 1987, re Thatcher
A lot of the things she said were not right ... Fevered and very often irrational. Ian Gilmour, re Thatcher
Clinton: the most corrupt, fraudulent and dishonest president we have ever known. Mark Helprin, Wall Street Journal contributing editor
A raisin-eyed, carrot-nosed, twig-armed, straw-stuffed, mannequin trundled on a go-cart by the mentally bereft powerbrokers of the Democratic Party. Camille Paglia, re Hillary Clinton
That goddamn nigger preacher. Lyndon Baines Johnson, re King
Better to have him inside the tent pissing out, than outside pissing in. Lyndon Baines Johnson, re J Edgar Hoover
So dumb he can’t fart and chew gum at the same time. Lyndon Baines Johnson, re Gerald Ford
Jordan Maxwell even got his own name from Helena Blavatsky’s book Isis Unveilled page 228. Jordanus Maximum was the Lord Jordan, according to Helena Blavatsky ... He is a theosophic agent externalising the New Age. Keith Thompson, Aquarius: The Age of Evil
And this is Mormonism! These are the people who are eternally talking of Gentile persecution! Yes, they have been persecuted, as debauchees and felons usually are, but never on account of their religion. They have ever been a bubbling and seething cauldron of pollution, and can no more be tolerated in the bosom of civilized society, than gangs of counterfeiters and thieves. The New York Times, article 19th July 1853, The Mormonites
Of low birth – vulgar and uncultivated both in mind and person – destitute alike of the talent and the courage which command respect, and possessing no other quality than that which the lowest cunning inspires. The Times 1843, of Joseph Smith
In the summer season his mental condition is not good. And you must know he is mad. Muammar al-Gaddafi re Anwar Sadat
A vicious criminal, 100% sick and possessed of a demon. Anwar Sadat, re Muammar al-Gaddafi
Cunt-loving son of a syphilitic whore. Tom Sharpe, The Throwback
Who’s your fat friend? Beau Brummell, re Prince of Wales
It’s not that I disagree with Bush’s economic policy or his foreign policy, it’s that I believe he was a child of Satan here to destroy the planet Earth. Bill Hicks, Revelations, Dominion Theatre London
Maybe you was conceived with a weak sperm or something. Maybe your dad was jacking off and your mum sat on it at the last second. Did I over-react? Bill Hicks, Sane Man