"I am enclosing two tickets to the first night of my new play, bring a friend.. if you have one."
-- George Bernard Shaw to Winston Churchill
"Cannot possibly attend first night, will attend second... if there is one."
-- Winston Churchill, in response
Thats "give and take" at its best!
Winston Churchill was wonderful at it. One of his more famous "incidents" was:
("proper" lady at a party seeing that Churchill had too much to drink, exclaimed in a demeaning voice): You're drunk!!!
(Churchill replied): Yes, madam, I AM drunk and you are ugly. Tomorrow I will be sober but you'll still be ugly.
(I MAY have messed up the exact quote but thats the gist of it).