The past is always a rebuke to the present; it's bound to be, one way or another: it's your great rebuke. It's a better rebuke than any dream of the future. It's a better rebuke because you can see what some of the costs were, what frail virtues were achieved in the past by frail men. - Robert Penn Warren, at the Fugitives' reunion, May 1956

according to one Shakespearean search tool, the Bard used rebuke twenty-seven(27) times in his plays.

to wit:
CLEOPATRA: Celerity is never more admired
Than by the negligent.

MARK ANTONY: A good rebuke,
Which might have well becomed the best of men,
To taunt at slackness.

rebuke was also a useful word to James Joyce; e.g. in Ulysses:
Having delivered himself of this rebuke he saluted those present on the by and repaired to the door. A murmur of approval arose from all and some were for ejecting the low soaker without more ado...[he goes on at some length]

as could I.

Last edited by tsuwm; 03/13/2006 4:14 AM.