Downton Abbey 5×5

Lady Rosamund Painswick: So, we have a situation of infinite danger to your reputation, which brings you no emotional reward to compensate.

Robert Crawley, Earl of Grantham: I know you feel excluded at times, an outsider in your own home.
Tom Branson: Look, I am very grateful to you and this family. But my vision of this country is different from yours.
Robert Crawley, Earl of Grantham: But not from Miss Bunting's?
Tom Branson: I believe in reform and the moral direction of the Left, and when I'm with her, I don't feel like a freak or a fool, devoid of common sense.
Robert Crawley, Earl of Grantham: I would only say this, Tom: In your time here you've learned both sides of the argument, befriended people you'd once have seen as enemies.
Tom Branson: That's true.
Robert Crawley, Earl of Grantham: You should be proud. Five years ago, would you have believed you could be friendly with my mother?
Tom Branson: I'm not sure I'd have believed it five minutes ago.
Robert Crawley, Earl of Grantham: Don't make nothing of what you've achieved. That's all.

Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham: It's the family's fault, really. We've trained her in our ways, and the earnest and intellectual 'bonne bourgeoise' has been replaced by... a rather less definable figure.
Dr. Clarkson: Are you saying you liked her better when she was more middle-class?
Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham: No, I wouldn't go that far.
Dr. Clarkson: But you understood her better.
Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham: Precisely. Now I do not know who she is. I do not know what it is she wants.
Dr. Clarkson: Well, there are many who wouldn't be puzzled by the desire to marry a lord and live in a palace... Can I ask you a personal question?
Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham: I've lived through great wars and my share of grief. I think I can manage an impertinent question from a doctor.
Dr. Clarkson: Do you perhaps resent the idea of a change of position for Mrs Crawley?
Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham: I'm sorry. I do not quite grasp your question. It bewilders me. But I will say this: Do you wish to see her live a life devoid of industry and moral worth?
Dr. Clarkson: I do not.
Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham: And when the glitter is tarnished, you know, what then? A hollow existence in a large and draughty house, with a man who bores her to death.
Dr. Clarkson: It's a terrible prospect.
Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham: So our duty is clear.

Mr. Carson: Why does everyone talk as if we don't live in the modern world?
Mrs. Hughes: You don't agree with that, then?
Mr. Carson: No. Does the King not live in the world of today? Does Mr Sargent not paint modern pictures? Does Mr Kipling not write modern books?

Mrs. Hughes: What's going on here?
Mrs. Patmore: All sorts. Mr Carson's giving me investment advice and Miss Bunting's leaving Downton, because Mr Branson won't stick up for her.
Mr. Carson: Well, that seems to cover it. I'll be in my room.

Isobel Crawley: Do you care what people think?
Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham: Yes. I accept change, but I want to navigate it gently. I don't want to leap into it and put everyone's backs up.
Isobel Crawley: But why do the rituals, the clothes and the customs, matter so much?
Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham: Because, without them, we would be like the Wild Men of Borneo.
Isobel Crawley: I disagree. Manners and tradition are all very well, but once they start to control us, they've outlived their usefulness.
Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham: Well, there are more important things to worry about than whether or not Carson minds serving cocktails.
Lady Mary Crawley: Why is Carson in the line of fire? What's he done wrong?

Lady Rosamund Painswick: Well, it is very hard--
Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham: Rosamund, you are addressing your mother, not the committee of the Women's Institute.
Lady Rosamund Painswick: I'm afraid you've read somewhere that rudeness in old age is amusing, which is quite wrong, you know.

Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham: We both know you are not leaving my house until I learn the truth. So, shall I have a bed made up for you here, or are you going to tell me now?

Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham: You don't like change, Spratt?
Spratt: I detest it, madam.
Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham: Well, we all hate change, Spratt, but we have to learn to live with it.
Lord Merton: I don't hate change. I find it exciting. Remember - those customs and ceremonies that people think are the soul of England were almost all invented by the Victorians.
Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham: Quite right. The truth is, they're well suited, whether we like it or not.

Lady Rose MacClare: I don't understand.
Atticus Aldridge: Erm... I think he said we're not Russian, because we're... we're Jewish.
Lady Rose MacClare: Well, how did he know?
Atticus Aldridge: There were two big pogroms to drive out the Jews from Odessa, one in 1859...
Lady Rose MacClare: And 1871? But it's still odd. I mean, you're English now, but you're still Jewish. What's the difference?

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