Downton Abbey 6×1

Mrs. Hughes: I was not bad-looking as a girl, if you can believe it.
Mrs. Patmore: Very easily.
Mrs. Hughes: But these days? I'm not sure I can let him see me as I am now.
Mrs. Patmore: Perhaps you can keep the lights off.
Mrs. Hughes: That is not helpful, Mrs Patmore.
Mrs. Patmore: Well, won't he feel the same? I mean, no-one's clapped eyes on him without his togs for years. Except the doctor.
Mrs. Hughes: Good point. Very good point. Maybe he'd prefer us to leave that side of things alone...
Mrs. Patmore: Sorry? Live like brother and sister, you mean?
Mrs. Hughes: A very loving brother and sister.
Mrs. Patmore: And that's what you want?
Mrs. Hughes: I don't know what I want. Except not to feel embarrassed and absurd.

Isobel Crawley: What matters more? Health or power?
Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham: What matters is to have power over the maintenance of our own health.

Isobel Crawley: So, you want to protect your power at the expense of the patients. I want to protect the patients at the expense of my power.
Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham: And may the best man win.

Mr. Carson: I must ask you to remember, my Lord, that there were six footmen when I first came here and five housemaids. Now we've got to two of each and no kitchen maids at all. We must run this place as it should be run.
Robert Crawley, Earl of Grantham: I'm not asking you to wield a scythe, but, I mean, who has an under-butler these days? If I could stop history in its tracks, maybe I would. But I can't, Carson. Nor you, nor I can hold back time.
Mr. Carson: Unfortunately.

Mrs. Patmore: You see, we were talking of how it will be, sharing your life after so many years on your own.
Mr. Carson: That's the nub of it -- I agree.
Mrs. Patmore: Because you've got used to doing things in a certain way.
Mr. Carson: It's true. I have. But I like to think that I'm not too old to change.
Mrs. Patmore: No, of course not.

Robert Crawley, Earl of Grantham: Are you plotting something? You sound like a governess in fear of dismissal.
Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham: You sound like a guilty party, who's trying to throw me off the scent.

Robert Crawley, Earl of Grantham: To be honest, I'm starting to ask myself how much longer we can go on with it all.
Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham: Well, go on with what?
Robert Crawley, Earl of Grantham: The household. The servants.
Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham: You're not in difficulties, are you?
Robert Crawley, Earl of Grantham: No. But a butler, under-butler, footmen, a valet, ladies' maids... to say nothing of the housemaids, the kitchen, the laundry, the --
Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham: Yes, well, you... you think it's a bit too much in 1925?
Robert Crawley, Earl of Grantham: The wage bill is three times what it was before the war. Soon it will be worse. And anyway, who lives as we used to, now?
Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham: Well, I don't think you'll see much change at the Palace...
Robert Crawley, Earl of Grantham: The Royal Family, then, the dukes, some others, and good luck to them. But most people are cutting down.

Mrs. Patmore: You see, she is a very proud woman, Mr Carson.
Mr. Carson: I know that, and I respect her for it.
Mrs. Patmore: And she would never want to appear ridiculous in your eyes.
Mr. Carson: Nor could she.
Mrs. Patmore: No, but... as your wife, she wonders if you would expect... that she perform her wifely duties.
Mr. Carson: Don't wives normally perform their duties? Good wives, any... Oh.
Mrs. Patmore: Yes. That's it. I think we've got there.
Mr. Carson: I do believe we have.

Mr. Carson: You say she asks if I want a 'full' marriage... and the answer is... yes, I do. I want a real marriage, a true marriage, with everything that that involves... and I hope I do not ask the indelicate when I send you back to relay this message.
Mrs. Patmore: Don't worry about me.
Mr. Carson: I love her, Mrs Patmore. I am happy and tickled and... bursting with pride that she would agree to be my wife. And I want us to live as closely as two people can, for the time that remains to us on earth.
Mrs. Patmore: Well, you couldn't make it any clearer.

Mrs. Hughes: He avoided... vulgarity, then?
Mrs. Patmore: Vulgarity? Mr Carson wouldn't be vulgar if they put him on a seaside postcard.

Isobel Crawley: I need to be sure that we can disagree, without there being any bad feeling between us.
Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham: Well, it depends who wins.
Isobel Crawley: Surely not!
Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham: Which means you are confident of victory. Well, we shall see...

Isobel Crawley: You don't really mean to manage without a lady's maid, do you?
Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham: Certainly not!
Isobel Crawley: Then why did you --
Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham: Sometimes it's good to rule by fear.

—
+ Quotes on the IMDb
+ Soundtracks