Downton Abbey 1×1

Daisy Robinson: Why are their papers ironed?
William Mason: What's it to you? To dry the ink, silly. We wouldn't want his Lordship's hands to be as black as yours.

Lady Edith Crawley: I thought it was supposed to be unsinkable.
Robert Crawley, Earl of Grantham: Every mountain is unclimbable until someone climbs it. So every ship is unsinkable until it sinks.

Thomas Barrow: Snuff boxes. He collects them.
John Bates: Beautiful... Funny, our job, isn't it?
Thomas Barrow: What do you mean?
John Bates: The way we live with all this. A pirate's hoard within our reach. But none of it's ours, is it?
Thomas Barrow: No, none of it's ours.

Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham: I didn't run Downton for 30 years to see it go, lock, stock and barrel, to a stranger from God knows where.
Cora, Countess of Grantham: Are we to be friends, then?
Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham: We are allies, my dear. Which can be a good deal more effective.

Daisy Robinson: It seems like a lot of food, when you think they're all in mourning.
Mrs. Patmore: Nothing makes you hungrier or more tired than grief. When my sister died, God rest her soul, I ate my way through four platefuls of sandwiches at one sitting and slept round the clock.
Daisy Robinson: Did it make you feel better?
Mrs. Patmore: Not much, but it passed the time.

George Murray: Matthew Crawley is a solicitor, based in Manchester.
Robert Crawley, Earl of Grantham: Manchester?
George Murray: His special field is company law. His mother is alive and he lives with her. His father, obviously, is not. He was a doctor... I know.
Robert Crawley, Earl of Grantham: It does seem odd that my third cousin should be a doctor.
George Murray: There are worse professions.
Robert Crawley, Earl of Grantham: Indeed.

Mrs. Hughes: You mustn't take it personally.
Mr. Carson: Oh, I do take it personally, Mrs. Hughes. I can't stand by and watch our family threatened with the loss of all they hold dear.
Mrs. Hughes: They're not our family.
Mr. Carson: Well, they're all the family I've got!
Mrs. Hughes: I beg your pardon. Do you... ever wish you'd gone another way? Worked in a shop or a factory? Had a wife and children?
Mr. Carson: Do you?
Mrs. Hughes: I don't know. Maybe. Sometimes.

Robert Crawley, Earl of Grantham: Do you miss the army, Bates?
John Bates: I miss a lot of things, but you have to keep moving, don't you?
Robert Crawley, Earl of Grantham: Ha! You do, indeed.

Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham: Don't you care about Downton?
Robert Crawley, Earl of Grantham: What do you think? I've given my life to Downton. I was born here and I hope to die here. I claim no career beyond the nurture of this house and the estate. It is my third parent and my fourth child. Do I care about it? Yes, I do care!

Duke of Crowborough: Why did you apologise to that man? It's not his business what we do.
Lady Mary Crawley: I always apologise when I'm in the wrong. It's a habit of mine.

Mr. Carson: The plain fact is, Mr. Bates, through no fault of his own, is not able to fulfil the extra duties expected of him. He can't lift, he can't serve at table, he's dropping things all over the place. On a night like tonight, he should act as a third footman. As it is, my Lord, we may have to have a maid in the dining room.
Robert Crawley, Earl of Grantham: Cheer up, Carson. There are worse things happening in the world.
Mr. Carson: Not worse than a maid serving a duke.

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