Christmas Special

Downton Abbey 6×9

Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham: ... you must beard him in his den.
Isobel Crawley: Won't that encourage him?
Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham: Your feelings do you credit, my dear, but never let tenderness be a bar to a bit of snooping.

Mr. Carson: I've no complaints but I still find it odd that a woman in her condition is working as a lady's maid. It's not what I'm used to.
Mrs. Hughes: I should hope not. Before the war, they were almost never married. At least, if they were they retired.
Mr. Carson: And this is the future?
Mrs. Hughes: If you're really asking, I think the future is no ladies' maids at all, but we haven't quite got there.
Mr. Carson: Ooh!

Denker: Do you value honesty, Mr Spratt?
Spratt: Of course I do. What a question.
Denker: But you don't want to tell me why Lady Edith was here?
Spratt: I value honesty and discretion, they are both virtues.

Lady Mary Crawley: Granny.
Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham: There, I was beginning to forget what you looked like.
Robert Crawley, Earl of Grantham: I'm glad you're back on your feet.
Denker: Shall I make some tea, m'lady?
Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham: Will you be here long enough to drink it?

Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham: Oh, sad. Of course, I see his point. But I bet he regrets it.
Lady Mary Crawley: He's painted himself into a corner.
Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham: I know, why can't men ever paint themselves out of a corner?

Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham: Oh, don't be mysterious. It's the last resort of people with no secrets.

Robert Crawley, Earl of Grantham: You're not going to believe it!
Cora Crawley, Countess of Grantham: She's pregnant again?
Robert Crawley, Earl of Grantham: No!
Cora Crawley, Countess of Grantham: She's been arrested for treason?

Isobel Crawley: I keep bursting into tears.
Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham: Why, of course you do. Why wouldn't you, when you're in love with him?
Isobel Crawley: Am I? That phrase conjures up for me dance cards and stolen kisses and Mama waiting below in the carriage. Not two old fuddy-duddies who can barely manage the stairs.
Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham: It's good to be in love, whatever age.

Isobel Crawley: I can't think why I turned him down. I must have been mad.
Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham: The course of true love never did run smooth.
Isobel Crawley: After Prince Kuragin, did you ever fall in love again?
Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham: You must know by now I never answer any question more incriminating than whether or not I need a rug.

Mrs. Hughes: I'll make an appointment.
Mr. Carson: There's no need.
Mrs. Hughes: I don't believe ignorance is bliss. At any rate, it isn't bliss to me.

Thomas Barrow: Is that it, Sir Mark? Mrs Jenkins, me and Elsie?
Sir Mark: Yes. This is not 1850, you know.

Isobel Crawley: I can hardly push my way past the servants and run upstairs to his bedroom.
Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham: I don't see why not. As my late father used to say, if reason fails, try force.

Joseph Molesley: Mr Carson, are you all right?
Mr. Carson: Never better.
Mrs. Hughes: Why say you're never better?
Mr. Carson: I see, I'm to tell my private business to the whole world now.

Mrs. Patmore: Oh, hello. What can I do for you?
Mrs. Hughes: Just looked in to say good night. We're going.
Mrs. Patmore: Oh, back to the carefree love-nest.
Mrs. Hughes: I hope. Oh, it's a love-nest, all right. But no life is care free.

Denker: Oh, Mr Spratt. I know you resent me.
Spratt: Why would I resent you?
Denker: Because I'm interesting, because I'm exotic, because I'm attractive.
Spratt: Oh, dear me, this is worse than I thought. Do you always have trouble distinguishing fact from fiction?

Thomas Barrow: Sir Mark, may I remind you that I will be away on New Year's Eve? Mrs Jenkins will carry up the tea.
Sir Mark: The cook?! Carrying the tea into the drawing room?

Mr. Carson: When the wedding is over, I will place an advertisement and I will do the preliminary interviews myself. I could not give this house or this family into hands that I do not trust.
Robert Crawley, Earl of Grantham: This is very drastic.
Lady Mary Crawley: But you'll stay in our lives, Carson? You'll stay on the estate, keep a seeing eye on things, help manage grand events and so on?
Mr. Carson: I would like to say yes to that, my lady. But I doubt that the new butler would accept the job under such terms. I know that I wouldn't.

Lady Mary Crawley: Papa just resents the hours you spend at the hospital.
Cora Crawley, Countess of Grantham: Hours I'm not spending on him. I'm sure it's quite unconscious.
Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham: Men are unconscious for so much of the time.

Lady Rose MacClare: If you want to keep her, Robert, you must let her go.
Robert Crawley, Earl of Grantham: I'm not very good at those American slogans.
Lady Rose MacClare: Then forget the slogan and listen to this. You have a wonderful marriage and with my parents, I should know. Don't spoil it now by asking her to choose. Please.

Denker: Oh, dear, I do feel responsible. Perhaps I should have held my tongue. But, I suppose, truth will out.
Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham: Every time, Denker, every time.

Isobel Crawley: We didn't always think there'd be a happy ending for Edith.
Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham: Well, there's a lot at risk, but with any luck they'll be happy enough. Which is the English version of a happy ending.
Isobel Crawley: What do you think makes the English the way we are?
Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham: I don't know. Opinions differ. Some say our history, but I blame the weather.

Mr. Carson: I don't want to force your hand, Mr Barrow.
Thomas Barrow: And I don't want to twist your arm, Mr Carson.

Robert Crawley, Earl of Grantham: I'm afraid Mama would find it rather unorthodox.
Cora Crawley, Countess of Grantham: Maybe. But you know what I think? I think the more adaptable we are, the more chance we have of getting through.
Robert Crawley, Earl of Grantham: We'll do it. The estate's safe in Mary's hands with Henry and Tom to help her. Edith has risen from the cinders in the hearth to be kissed by her very own Prince Charming. What more can we ask?
Cora Crawley, Countess of Grantham: A long and happy life together, just we two, to watch the children grow. That's all I want. And why not? We never know what's coming, of course, who does? But I'd say we have a good chance.

Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham: Makes me smile, the way every year we drink to the future, whatever it may bring.
Isobel Crawley: Well, what else could we drink to? We're going forward to the future, not back into the past.
Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham: If only we had the choice!

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