Sheldon Cooper is a character who is hard to forget and is definitely one of the most complicated ones from The Big Bang Theory. Sometimes, he has his sweet moments, like when he tells Amy he loves her or when he finally sentimentally calls Leonard his best friend, but he is rigid and insensitive much of the time. Though the show revealed a much more mature side to Sheldon in the finale, that wasn't the norm throughout the 12 seasons.
The physicist is widely known for his rude, and sometimes straight-up cruel, statements. Here are some of his worst insults, ranked.
"If you don't mind, I'd like to stop listening to you."
Although some may not consider it to be an insult, it definitely is one. From Amy's perspective, her boyfriend basically tells her he could not care less about what she is saying and wants her to shut up.
Sheldon doesn't simply tell her to stop talking—he literally tells her that she needs to make it easier for him by shutting up. This is an incredibly scathing thing to say.
"Then suffer in silence."
Although this is a hilarious moment, it's still a pretty crude burn to Leonard. He doesn't hesitate to tell Leonard to be quiet if he doesn't have something that will impact Sheldon.
When Leonard admits his problem doesn't actually affect Sheldon, Sheldon has no empathy for him. He only insults.
"...Unskilled food servers such as yourself."
When working on a new robot gets playfully interrupted by Penny, Sheldon starts a brief he-said, she-said tiff when he blatantly and narrow-mindedly judges Penny for being a waitress.
Of course, he insults her so quickly and slyly that it can almost be overlooked, but Penny doesn't miss the incredibly uncalled-for dig and responds with a comeback of her own. Sheldon started this little war yet directly insults Penny and her work ethic.
"As you have an entire lifetime of poor decisions ahead of you..."
Sheldon really likes to insult Penny. He does so at this moment when he interrupts her and Leonard as they're having a passionate conversation and goes right into insulting her.
Although Penny doesn't hold grudges against him, it must take a lot of patience to let this one go because he's accusing her of having a future full of "poor decisions." This is an undeniably blistering snub to Penny.
"...While you preside over the kiddie table of yours."
This has got to be one of the worst insults (and decisions) Sheldon throws out by far because he is punished with jail time. He doesn't even think about the price he has to pay for disrespecting a judge.
Overall, one of Sheldon's many flaws is how he belittles others and compares them to himself. Deriding a judge for his traffic court position is definitely an unnecessary and cutting remark.
"I told you you weren't smart enough to take it."
This is one of Sheldon's meanest insults to Howard, aside from always tossing minor quips and insults about Howard's career status. At this moment, he challenges Howard's entire spectrum of intelligence.
It's bad enough (yet really funny) when Howard asks Sheldon a series of "hard" engineering questions, and he answers them correctly, but insulting Howard on his intelligence is undoubtedly cruel. Sheldon is really belittling all engineers globally, conveying that this academic vocation isn't "smart enough" to challenge his position. This moment earned its rightful spot in Sheldon's most disparaging comments.
"What my spineless friend lacks the courage to say..."
Here, Sheldon is trying to stand up for Leonard, yet ultimately can't because he continues to bully Leonard for his "tiny," "uncoordinated" self and indicates he has a stereotypical "lack of masculinity."
This moment reveals that Sheldon is simply acting like a bully rather than a supportive friend. Viewers question whether or not he is insulting all of those who can relate to Leonard by proxy. His statement is not true at all, but it is mean. All in all, Sheldon is making his view of Leonard clear.
"She has no prospects, no marketable skills..."
Sheldon goes on an entire rant about how Penny's supposedly hopeless life will lead her to befriend other scientists and steal Sheldon's new idea.
He continues to describe how her career as an actress is shattering. Sheldon bluntly explains that he envisions Penny leaning on other supposedly smarter people to succeed. This, in turn, reveals his incredibly low opinion of her potential. It's a truly awful thing to say.
"And you thought the opposite of loser was community college graduate?
Sheldon is slamming all community college graduates here. He feeds into this brainiac archetype the show satirizes by basically telling Penny that she is nothing without a college degree.
Sheldon's base opinion is that a community college graduate equates to being a loser. He thinks it should be normal to strive for doctorates to excel in any career, which disrespects many others who have not chosen this path. This insult should take the grand prize for the most scathing of all. It is really below the belt. Everyone is free to choose their own paths in life, and all achievements are laudable, not just a specific set of them.