“Thy lips rot off” (Timon of Athens act 4, sc. 3)
Tips for Use. Excellent way out when you cannot immediately come up with a retort to a witticism or accusing remark of which you are the subject. Equally usable during a presentation when you are fielding a nasty comment by an obnoxious party in the audience. You will probably get a laugh and defuse the situation. Particularly useful in the Senate or Congress, political debate, corporate meeting….To receive an (almost) daily copy of the latest blog and Shakespearean verbal ‘weapon’ subscribe for free to this site (click on the top-right link on the menu) top the contact form.
And I promise, no sales calls, trade leads, venomous schemes, hidden plots, Machiavellian conspiracies, commercial ploys, psychological tricks, leads exchanges, barter proposals, suggestions or offers of any kind imaginable (and unimaginable).
Of course, if you acquire the book “Your Daily Shakespeare” you will not only enjoy it but you will find it very useful. The quote in this post and more than ten thousand others will lead you to find the words that perfectly strengthen your argument(s). After all Shakespeare wrote them, I simply extracted, structured and compiled them so as to make Shakespeare very “user friendly” as they say. And if you wish I will even sign the book. But this is the extreme extent of any “sales” effort, call or solicitation.
In the play. Phrynia, Alcibiades’ girlfriend replies to Timon’s insult who called her a whore. In fact Timon had said,
“This fell whore of thine
Hath in her more destruction than thy sword,
For all her cherubim look.”
In the Bush’ administration, as well as in the CIA, Phrynia would have been classified as a weapon of mass destruction.