A portion of Hippolyte Delaroche's 1836 oil painting Charles I Insulted by Cromwell's Soldiers

Insults are expressions, statements (or sometimes behavior) which is considered degrading and offensive. Insults may be intentional or accidental. An example of the latter is a well-intended simple explanation, which in fact is superfluous, but is given due to underestimating the intelligence or knowledge of the other.

Quotes

• We should never insult others on account of their faults, for it is our duty to show charity and respect to everyone.
  • John Calvin Golden Booklet of the True Christian Life, pg. 33.

• If he has deserved no kindness, but just the opposite, because he has maddened you with his injuries and insults, even this is no reason why you should not surround him with your affection and show him all sorts of favors.
  • John Calvin, Golden Booklet of the True Christian Life, pg. 38

• τίς ὸμφαλητόμος σε τὸν διοπλῆγα
  ἔψησε κἀπέλουσεν ἀσκαρίζοντα
  • What navel-snipper [midwife] wiped and washed you as you squirmed about, you crack-brained creature?
  • Hipponax attributed by Aelius Herodianus (fl. 2nd c. CE), 'On Inflections'; as cited by Douglas Gerber, Greek Iambic Poetry, Loeb Classical Library (1999), page 367.

• Hear me, you who know what is right,

you people who have taken my instruction to heart:

Do not fear the reproach of mere mortals

or be terrified by their insults.

For the moth will eat them up like a garment;

the worm will devour them like wool.

But my righteousness will last forever,

my salvation through all generations.

• Isaiah 51:7-8 NIV

• He hurled his insult. He laid his curse.
  A curse which is reciprocated will be retaliated against with yet another curse.
  It is an insult resulting from an insult. It is a curse resulting from a curse. It is the constant renewal of destiny.
  To accept a verdict is possible. To accept a curse is impossible.
  • Sumerian proverb, Collection I at The Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature, 3rd millennium BCE.

• He who insults is insulted. He who sneers is sneered at.
  • Sumerian proverb, Collection III at The Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature, 3rd millennium BCE.

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