Downton Abbey 3×4

Robert Crawley, Earl of Grantham: Tennessee is going to ratify the 19th amendment.
Matthew Crawley: Meaning?
Robert Crawley, Earl of Grantham: All American women will have the vote.
Lady Edith Crawley: Which is more than they do here.
Robert Crawley, Earl of Grantham: Well, they almost do.
Lady Edith Crawley: I don't have the vote. I'm not over 30 and I'm not a householder. It's ridiculous.

Robert Crawley, Earl of Grantham: There's nothing so toffee-nosed as a Prince of the Church, so make sure you put him next to your grandmother. She'll know how to handle him.

Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham: Well, there must be something you could put your mind to.
Lady Edith Crawley: Like what? Gardening?
Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham: Well, no, you can't be as desperate as that.
Lady Edith Crawley: Then what?
Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham: Edith dear, you are a woman with a brain and reasonable ability. Stop whining and find something to do!

Mr. Carson: Go on, then.
Alfred Nugent: Tea spoon. Egg spoon. Melon spoon. Grapefruit spoon. Jam spoon...
Mr. Carson: Shall I tell you?
Alfred Nugent: .... All right.
Mr. Carson: A bouillon spoon.
Alfred Nugent: But I thought soup spoons were the same as table spoons.
Mr. Carson: Ah, and so they are. But not for bouillon, which is drunk from a smaller dish.

Tom Branson: They turned everyone out of the castle... Lord and Lady Drumgoole, their sons and all the servants... and then they set fire to it.
Lady Edith Crawley: What a tragedy.
Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham: Well, yes and no. That house was hideous. But, of course, that is no excuse.

Mr. Carson: What in God's name is it?
Mrs. Hughes: An electric toaster. I've given it to myself as a treat. If it's any good, I'm going to suggest getting one for the upstairs breakfasts.
Mr. Carson: Is it not enough that we're sheltering a dangerous revolutionary, Mrs. Hughes? Could you not have spared me that?

Mr. Carson: Well, this new one seems very sure of himself.
Matthew Crawley: You can manage that, can't you?
Mr. Carson: I suppose I could, sir.
Lady Mary Crawley: Well, it's settled then. Tell the maids they can buy their valentines.
Mr. Carson: So be it, m'lady... But Alfred is very good, you know. He's very willing. Even if he is Miss O'Brien's nephew.
Matthew Crawley: Clearly, nothing worse could be said of any man.

Lady Sybil Branson: Is that fair? He's admitted to being there. He's told you so himself.
Robert Crawley, Earl of Grantham: But he did not tell me that he attended Dublin meetings where the attacks on the Anglo-Irish were planned.
Tom Branson: I was always against any personal violence. I swear it.
Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham: Oh, so at least we can sleep in our beds.

Cora Crawley, Countess of Grantham: So what was the deal you managed to extract from the Home Secretary?
Robert Crawley, Earl of Grantham: They don't want to make a martyr of him. And with Sybil, they think they could have another Maud Gonne on their hands, or Lady Gregory or worse, if they're not careful.
Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham: Lady Gregory, Countess Markievicz... why are the Irish rebels so well born?

Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham: What do you mean you wrote to a newspaper? No lady writes to a newspaper.
Lady Edith Crawley: What about Lady Sarah Wilson? She's the daughter of a duke, and she worked as a war journalist.
Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham: Well, she's a Churchill. The Churchills are different.
Lady Mary Crawley: Have we no Churchill blood?
Cora Crawley, Countess of Grantham: I think Granny is right.
Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham: Can somebody write that down?

Lady Mary Crawley: Well done, Carson. That must have cheered up the maids.
Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham: He looks like a footman in a musical review.
Lady Edith Crawley: Poor Alfred. We mustn't allow him to be completely overshadowed.
Mr. Carson: Quite right, m'lady. Hard work and diligence weigh more than beauty in the real world.
Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham: If only that were true...

Matthew Crawley: Downton is being mismanaged, Cousin Violet, and something must be done. The thing is, how do I do it without putting people's noses out of joint?
Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham: Oh, my dear... Oh, I doubt there is a way to achieve that. I mean, you must do what needs to be done, of course, but... Oh, I think I can safely say a great many noses will be out of joint.

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