"And why I pray you? who might be your mother
That you inſult, exult, and all at once
Ouer the wretched?"
— c. 1598–1600 (date written), William Shakespeare, “As You Like It”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene v], page 199, column 2:
"The Foe hayles on thy head; and in thy Face / Inſults, and trenches; leaues thee, no worlds grace; / The walles, in which thou art beſieged, ſhake."
— 1609, Geo[rge] Chapman, Euthymiæ Raptus; or The Teares of Peace: […], London: […] H[umphrey] L[ownes] for Rich[ard] Bonian, and H. Walley: […], →OCLC:
"Nor would ſuch a man as thou art be deterr'd, were I to remind thee of the vengeance which thou mayeſt one day expect, if thou inſulteſt a woman of her character, family, and fortune."
— 1748, [Samuel Richardson], “Letter XLIX. Mr. Belford, to Robert Lovelace, Esq.”, in Clarissa. Or, The History of a Young Lady: […], volume III, London: […] S[amuel] Richardson; [a]nd sold by John Osborn, […], →OCLC, page 242:
"Thou canst not tell where one drop of water or one grain of sand will be to-morrow noon; and yet with thy impotence thou insultest the sun!"
— 1851 November 14, Herman Melville, “The Quadrant”, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, →OCLC, page 553:
"It was a wordy, disconnected, frantic letter, a drunken letter in fact. It was like the talk of a drunken man, who, on his return home, begins with extraordinary heat telling his wife or one of his household how he has just been insulted, what a rascal has just insulted him, what a fine fellow he is on the other hand, and how he will pay that scoundrel out; [...]"
— 1912, Fyodor Dostoevsky, “The Second Visit to Smerdyakov”, in Constance Garnett, transl., The Brothers Karamazov […], New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company, published 1922, part IV, book XI (Ivan), page 667: