When it comes to snide remarks, epic clapbacks and haunting taunts, nothing beats a Shakespearean insult
53 Shakespearean Insults That Still Sting Today
Updated on Mar. 14, 2025
Shakespearean insults for any occasion
1. “Goats and monkeys!” —Othello, Act 4, Scene 1
2. “[You are] duller than a great thaw.” —Much Ado About Nothing, Act 2, Scene 1
3. “The lady bade take away the fool. Therefore, I say again, take her away.” —Twelfth Night, Act 1, Scene 5
4. “Neighbors, you are tedious. ” —Much Ado About Nothing, Act 3, Scene 5
5. “He’s a man of wax.” —Romeo and Juliet, Act 1, Scene 3
6. “Observe him, for the love of mockery.” —Twelfth Night, Act 2, Scene 5
7. “Villain, I have done thy mother.” —Titus Andronicus, Act 4, Scene 2
8. “[You are] pigeon-livered and lack gall.” —Hamlet, Act 2, Scene 2
9. “[C]orruptor of words.” —Twelfth Night, Act 3, Scene 1
10. “You have such a February face, so full of frost, of storm, and cloudiness.” —Much Ado About Nothing, Act 5, Scene 4
11. “What an ass.” —Hamlet, Act 2, Scene 2
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Shakespearean insults to hurl in heated arguments
12. “[D]rop into the rotten mouth of death.” —Richard III, Act 4, Scene 4
13. “[You] peevish baggage.” —Pericles, Act 4, Scene 6
14. “[You are] an ass-head, and a coxcomb, and a knave, a thin-faced knave, a gull.” —Twelfth Night, Act 5, Scene 1
15. “I’ll pray a thousand prayers for thy death, No word to save thee.” —Measure for Measure, Act 3, Scene 1
16. “Ungracious wretch, Fit for the mountains and the barbarous caves, Where manners ne’er were preached! Out of my sight!” —Twelfth Night, Act 4, Scene 1
17. “You are not worth another word; else I’d call you knave.” —All’s Well That Ends Well, Act 2, Scene 3
18. “[You] rough rugheaded kern, Which live like venom.” —Richard II, Act 2, Scene 1
19. “A coward, a most devout coward, religious in it.” —Twelfth Night, Act 3, Scene 4
20. “Out of my sight! Thou dost infect mine eyes.” —Richard III, Act 1, Scene 2
21. “My cousin’s a fool, and thou art another.” —Much Ado About Nothing, Act 3, Scene 4
22. “[P]oisonous bunch-backed toad.” —Richard III, Act 1, Scene 3
23. “Bloody, bawdy villain! Remorseless, treacherous, lecherous, kindless villain!” —Hamlet, Act 2, Scene 2
Shakespearean insults for workplace drama
24. “Fie, what a slug is [he].” —Richard III, Act 3, Scene 1
25. “Are his wits safe? Is he not light of brain?” —Othello, Act 4, Scene 1
26. “And thou unfit for any place but hell.” —Richard III, Act 1, Scene 2
27. “A knot you are of damned bloodsuckers.” —Richard III, Act 3, Scene 3
28.”Hath the fellow any wit that told you this?” —Much Ado About Nothing, Act 1, Scene 2
29. “If thy offenses were upon record, Would it not shame thee in so fair a troop to read a lecture of them?” —Richard II, Act 4, Scene 1
30. “You rise to play, and go to bed to work.” —Othello, Act 2, Scene 1
31. “Come, you are a tedious fool. To the purpose.” —Measure for Measure, Act 2, Scene 1
32. “Only to despite them will I endeavor anything.” —Much Ado About Nothing, Act 2, Scene 2
33. “[B]oys, with women’s voices, strive to speak big.” —Richard II, Act 3, Scene 2
34. “Have you no wit, manners, nor honesty, but to gabble like tinkers at this time of night?” —Twelfth Night, Act 2, Scene 3
35. “I am sorry for thy much misgovernment.” —Much Ado About Nothing, Act 4, Scene 1
36. “That’s somewhat madly spoken.” —Measure for Measure, Act 5, Scene 1
37. “[H]e has not so much brain as earwax.” —Troilus and Cressida, Act 5, Scene 1
Shakespearean insults for a bad romance
38. “You kiss by th’ book.” —Romeo and Juliet, Act 1, Scene 5
39. “I have purchased many diseases under her roof.” —Measure for Measure, Act 1, Scene 2
40. “There’s small choice in rotten apples.” —The Taming of the Shrew, Act 1, Scene 1
41. “Beautiful tyrant, fiend angelical! Dove-feather’d raven, wolvish-ravening lamb!” —Romeo and Juliet, Act 3, Scene 2
42. “Marrying a punk, my lord, is pressing to death, whipping, and hanging.” —Measure for Measure, Act 5, Scene 1
43. “[You are] an index and obscure prologue to the history of lust and foul thoughts.” —Othello, Act 2, Scene 1
44. “[You are] a very superficial, ignorant, unweighing fellow.” —Measure for Measure, Act 3, Scene 2
45. “She speaks, yet she says nothing.” —Romeo and Juliet, Act 2, Scene 2
46. “Live you the marble-breasted tyrant still.” —Twelfth Night, Act 5, Scene 1
47. “Being no other but as she is, I do not like her.” —Much Ado About Nothing, Act 1, Scene 1
48. “He’s more, had I more name for badness.” —Measure for Measure, Act 5, Scene 1
49. “Lady, you are the cruel’st she alive.” —Twelfth Night, Act 1, Scene 5
50. “I see, lady, the gentleman is not in your books. No, and he were, I would burn my study.” —Much Ado About Nothing, Act 1, Scene 1
51. “Away, you three-inch fool.” —The Taming of the Shrew, Act 4, Scene 1
52. “I do desire that we may be better strangers.” —As You Like It, Act 3, Scene 2
53. “Heaven truly knows that thou art false as hell.” —Othello, Act 4, Scene 2
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