
There is nothing worse than being around a condescending person who thinks they are superior to those around them.
Condescending people lack the awareness that they alienate people when they talk down to others and assume people are less intelligent than they are. They offer unwanted advice and think that they can dictate to others how something should be done.
A friend of mine had returned from a trip to Indonesia; he shared with a girl at work how he felt tired and that he had crossed the international date line while traveling. His coworker condescendingly replied that he shouldn’t be tired and the international date line was only a 12-hour time difference even though she had never traveled outside of North America and had no idea what she was talking about. Her superiority came across loud and clear.

WANT TO BE ABLE TO SPEAK UP FOR YOURSELF?
Our FREE Starter Guide will show you the 3 simple steps you can take right now to stand up for yourself so that you can feel confident. It’s a game changer–get it free for a limited time!
If you’ve had enough of someone talking down to you, try a few of our snappy comebacks below and let them know that their behaviour is not OK. If you get really lucky, maybe they will move on and bother somebody else.
What to say to a condescending person
- I am sure that you didn’t mean to sound so arrogant, right?
- I don’t appreciate it when you make belittling comments towards me.
- The way you treat others is a statement about who you are.
- How you make others feel says a lot about you.
- Being condescending is an unintelligent way to make yourself feel superior.
- I try to treat everyone the same way, whether they are a janitor or the President of a country.
- Healthy, happy people don’t go around putting people down using negative criticisms and insults.
- You should really take a look at the way that you speak to other people.
- Being smug and condescending doesn’t make you important. It makes you unkind.
- Insecure people put others down to lift themselves up. Strong people don’t put others down, they lift them up.

WANT TO BE ABLE TO SPEAK UP FOR YOURSELF?
Our FREE Starter Guide will show you the 3 simple steps you can take right now to stand up for yourself so that you can feel confident. It’s a game changer–get it free for a limited time!
More comebacks you might like
- Top ten comebacks for people with double standards
- Top ten comebacks for narcissists
- Read more comebacks to insults
3 Responses
Being shy and very caring and considerate of others feelings has at times left me speechless when people have deliberately been rude to me. Thank you for your site. It made me laugh and I hope from now on, I am better with the comebacks.
Hi G, I am glad the site can help you out. Bryn
I have just come across @ishoulhavesaid, just as I wished how awesome would it be to know such a site which specialises in providing epic comebacks. Turns out, this crossed the limits of my expectations and proved to be extremely competent! Thank you for providing me with an amazing site, @Bryn!