Downton Abbey 4×3

Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham: I'm afraid Tom's small talk is very small indeed.
Cora Crawley, Countess of Grantham: Not everyone can be Oscar Wilde.
Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham: That's a relief.

Mr. Carson: We'll gather in the drawing room at 8:00. Ten staying and only three maids and two valets between them. Not quite like before the war, is it?
Mrs. Hughes: Very little is.

Mrs. Patmore: Oh, not those bowls, Ivy! Chilled soup should be an exquisite mouthful, not a bucket of slop!
Ivy Stuart: I'll get the smaller ones.
Mrs. Patmore: Daisy, how are the squabs doing?
Daisy Robinson: Fine, Mrs. Patmore.
Mrs. Patmore: What about the syllabubs?
Daisy Robinson: The orange peel and brandy mix is cooling in the larder. I'll whip the cream during the first course.
Mrs. Patmore: What about the savory?
Daisy Robinson: Mushrooms peeled and cut. Anchovy butter's ready. I'll make the toast when they eat the pudding.
Mrs. Patmore: Oh, my God, the vegetables!...

Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham: Don't call her Your Grace.
Tom Branson: I thought it was correct.
Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham: For a servant or an official at a ceremony, but in a social situation, call her Duchess.
Tom Branson: But why? I don't call you Countess.
Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham: Certainly not.
Tom Branson: There's no logic in it.
Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham: Oh, no. If I were to search for logic, I should not look for it among the English upper class.

Mrs. Hughes: You don't think she should dine with the house party?
Mr. Carson: An Australian singer?! Eating with her ladyship? Never mind the Duchess. No, I do not.

Mr. Carson: One thing: Her ladyship has been kind enough to invite the servants to hear Dame Nellie tomorrow evening.
Robert Crawley, Earl of Grantham: It's a rare opportunity for them.
Mr. Carson: She's very generous. But I wondered, what are we to do about the kitchen staff?
Robert Crawley, Earl of Grantham: Why? Do you fear the corrupting influence of opera?
Mr. Carson: Not at all, m'lord. But before the war they wouldn't usually have been included.
Robert Crawley, Earl of Grantham: Oh, I think we must bend that far, Carson. Modern times and all that.
Mr. Carson: As you wish, m'lord.

Isobel Crawley: You see, I have this feeling that when I laugh or read a book or hum a tune, it means that I've forgotten him. Just for a moment. And it's that that I can't bear.
Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham: "Better by far that you should forget and smile, than that you should remember and be sad."
Isobel Crawley: But Rosetti was writing about her own death, not her child's.

Mrs. Patmore: Mr. Molesley? I thought it was you. Are you a footman now?
Joseph Molesley: I'm having my career backwards.
Mr. Carson: Ah, Mr. Molesley. Alfred will be acting first footman tonight. So can you take your lead from him?
Joseph Molesley: Why not? Perhaps Daisy'd like to give me a pointer or two. Or Ivy?
Mr. Carson: And here are some clean gloves that should fit you.
Joseph Molesley: Gloves, Mr. Carson?
Mr. Carson: I'm sorry, Mr. Molesley, you're not the butler here. That is my job. You are a footman, and a footman wears gloves.

Robert Crawley, Earl of Grantham: But what do I say to her? What does one say to a singer?

Mr. Carson: I don't know. Screaming in the servants' hall, singers chatting to his lordship, and a footman cooking the dinner. What a topsy-turvy world we've come to...

Robert Crawley, Earl of Grantham: I'm so pleased you came.
Isobel Crawley: So am I. I was wrong to hesitate. But then, guilt has the power to make all of us do strange things.
Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham: Well, not all of us. Guilt has never played a major part in my life.
Robert Crawley, Earl of Grantham: Amen to that.

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