Downton Abbey: A New Era (2022)

Lady Rosamund Painswick: There's only one reason old ladies summon their lawyers.

Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham: If her husband wanted me to have the place, who are we to argue?
Robert Crawley, Earl of Grantham: You never thought to turn it down?
Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham: Do I look as if I'd turn down a villa in the South of France?

Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham: You want me to tell you why he did it when the truth is I do not know. And with that, I will say good night and leave you to discuss my mysterious past.

Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham: Now, Denker, don't steer me. I'm not a racing car.

Mrs. Patmore: Daisy's more obedient with him than she ever was with me.
Anna Bates: Maybe he makes her happier.
Mrs. Patmore: Well, I did me best.

Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham: But you must be firm, Mary. To those people, women like us fall into two categories: dragons and fools. You must make sure they think of you as a dragon.

Cora Crawley, Countess of Grantham: I don't pretend I've always worshipped at her shrine, but it will be strange. And Mary will miss her when she's gone.
Isobel Crawley: Mary will become her, so the gap will be filled.

Mrs. Hughes: Oh, put that guidebook down, Charlie, and go to sleep.
Mr. Carson: Mm, let me finish the chapter. You won't believe what these people eat...

Mr. Carson: I have found, when dealing with foreigners, if one speaks loudly and slowly, they'll bend to your will. Mrs. Hughes: Not too loudly and not too slowly.

Lady Mary Talbot: Doesn't filming interest you?
Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham: I watched some of it. I'd rather eat pebbles. In fact, I think I'll retire to my bed. At least until they've all gone.
Lady Mary Talbot: Should I be worried?
Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham: Well, Florence Nightingale took to her bed at the age of 38. She died at 90.

Guy Dexter: Now you know why I'm in the movies. How did you become a butler?
Thomas Barrow: Well, it's a lot less glamorous. I got a job as a hallboy. Then I was a junior footman, first footman, valet and finally butler. There's not much I couldn't tell you about how to run a house, sir.
Guy Dexter: See, that's the difference between you and me. I don't know what I'm doing half the time.

Isobel Crawley: Apparently, they're making the wrong sort of film.
Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham: Is there a right sort?
Isobel Crawley: Well, all I know is it seems the public only want films that talk.
Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham: I should've thought the best thing about films is that you can't hear them. Be even better if you couldn't see them either.

Lady Mary Talbot: You don't need me to tell you that marriage is a novel, not a short story. Full of plot twists along the way.

Cora Crawley, Countess of Grantham: Your father loved you. Enough.
Robert Crawley, Earl of Grantham: But it's not enough, is it? Not when I might be a lifelong fraud. A Frenchman's bastard who usurped the role of the proper heir.
Cora Crawley, Countess of Grantham: But that would've been Matthew's father, and now Matthew's son will inherit, so what difference does it make in the long run?

Jack Barber: Have I offended you?
Lady Mary Talbot: Not at all. Nothing is nicer for an old married woman than to find she's still an object of desire.

Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham: I was happy with Robert's father. Well... happy enough in that English way, when you never talk about anything, but you trust each other.

Mrs. Hughes: Charlie, are you all right?
Mr. Carson: What did King Lear say? 'Blow, winds, and crack your cheeks. / Rage, blow, you cataracts and hurricanoes.' Has the moment of her leaving come at last?

Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham: Stop that noise. I can't hear myself die.

—
+ Quotes on the IMDb
+ Soundtracks

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!

—
+ Quotes on the IMDb

Downton Abbey 6×8

Mr. Carson: And what makes you think you'll be any good?
Joseph Molesley: I don't know exactly. Perhaps because I want it so much.
Mr. Carson: There are plenty of little boys who want to be famous cricketers. It's not enough to make them champions.
Joseph Molesley: I just want to try, Mr Carson.
Mrs. Hughes: And so you shall.

Lady Mary Crawley: But that's absurd! If Bertie's a marquess, then Edith--
Robert Crawley, Earl of Grantham: Edith would outrank us all. Yes. That's right.

Tom Branson: We'll all bow and curtsy to Edith. You'll enjoy that, Mary.
Lady Mary Crawley: Hardly! And if Bertie is Lord Hexham which I still don't believe, he won't want to marry her now.
Cora Crawley, Countess of Grantham: Careful. People will think you're jealous, dear. We don't want that.

Mr. Carson: One thing. Don't forget Mr Pelham is now the Marquess of Hexham, when you address him.
John Bates: I helped him unpack and he wishes to remain Mr Pelham until his cousin's funeral, Mr Carson.
Mr. Carson: He can call himself Mr Pelham to his heart's content but he is Lord Hexham nevertheless, Mr Bates, and we will refer to him as His Lordship.

Bertie Pelham: Look, of course things have changed. I was in line for a quiet life, farming, sport, bringing up a family with my wife. But now I'm to be one of the kings of the county -- always on parade, representing the people who look up to me, fighting for causes, trying oh so hard not to be disappointing...

Henry Talbot: If you're trying to get rid of me, I'm going to make this as hard and as horrible as I can!

Robert Crawley, Earl of Grantham: How are you getting to Tangiers? Is there a boat that sails direct?
Bertie Pelham: Actually I'm flying. For the first bit, anyway.
Robert Crawley, Earl of Grantham: What?
Bertie Pelham: I know. It does seem rather daring.
Lady Rosamund Painswick: I do not envy you.
Robert Crawley, Earl of Grantham: I don't know. Now the commercial airlines are starting to operate, I dare say we'll all be flying hither and thither before too long.
Lady Rosamund Painswick: I rather doubt that.

John Bates: So you were wrong about him?
Anna Bates: I think I was. Why are you smiling?
John Bates: Show me a man that doesn't smile when his wife admits she's wrong.

Mr. Carson: Oh, I see. The plan is to mix up His Lordship or, worse, Her Ladyship, with a divorce petition and the scene of an adultery?
Mrs. Patmore: But I want to bury that story and I need a big event to bury it under.
Mr. Carson: You have no qualms about dragging the family we serve into the mud?
Mrs. Hughes: It's their choice, Mr Carson. They're all grown people, surely?
Mr. Carson: Well, I've always known that women were ruthless, but I didn't think I'd find the proof in my own wife!

Mrs. Patmore: It's my mess, why should you pay for it?
Mr. Carson: Indeed.
Cora Crawley, Countess of Grantham: Carson? Is this what you believe?
Mr. Carson: It is, Your Ladyship. I wouldn't like to see this family dragged into a tawdry, local brouhaha.
Mrs. Patmore: He means me.
Robert Crawley, Earl of Grantham: Oh, I think we have to show a little more backbone than that.
Mr. Carson: My Lord?
Robert Crawley, Earl of Grantham: Mrs Patmore has been loyal to this house and this house must be loyal to her.

Mrs. Hughes: They're doing something nice, Mr Carson. Don't spoil it.
Mr. Carson: Yes. Very nice! For the public to read about the cakes and dainties His Lordship is guzzling as he sits at the adulterers' table!
Mrs. Hughes: I'm sure there've been a few adulterers sat at the table upstairs.
Mr. Carson: That is different.
Mrs. Hughes: Why? To say nothing of suicidal footman in the attic!
Mr. Carson: What are we coming to? I only thank God that the Dowager isn't here to witness it.

Tom Branson: Was everything all right when you got home?
Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham: Well no, not really. Spratt has gone away.
Tom Branson: Did you tell him you were coming back?
Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham: A good butler should not need to be told.

Mrs. Hughes: Andrew, carry that out. And very, very good luck.
Mr. Carson: And good luck to us all. In the vain hope that we'll avoid scandalous gossip.
Mrs. Hughes: You're such an old curmudgeon.
Mr. Carson: Don't say you're going off me.
Mrs. Hughes: No, because you're my curmudgeon and that makes all the difference.
Mr. Carson: Hm.

Lady Mary Crawley: [Henry]'s well born, but there's no money or position. He's not even a countryman. Not really. He grew up in London.
Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham: He shoots.
Lady Mary Crawley: Yes, he shoots. Like every social-climbing banker shoots.
Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham: Well, let's leave his credentials to one side for a moment and concentrate on what is important.
Lady Mary Crawley: Which is?
Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham: Tom says that he is in love with you and that you are in love with him.
Lady Mary Crawley: Do you believe him?
Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham: Do you deny it?
Lady Mary Crawley: Oh, for you of all people to talk as if his qualifications don't matter!

Lady Mary Crawley: Oh, can't you find me some Duke? There must be one spare. So I can put Edith in her place.
Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham: You are the only woman I know who likes to think herself cold and selfish and grand. Most of us spend our lives trying to hide it.
Lady Mary Crawley: Oh, Granny please don't lecture me on sentimental virtues.
Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham: Don't worry. Don't worry. I believe in rules and traditions and playing our part. But there is something else.
Lady Mary Crawley: And what is that, pray?
Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham: I believe in love. I mean, brilliant careers, rich lives, are seldom led without... just an element of love.
Lady Mary Crawley: Oh, Granny. You do surprise me.
Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham: Oh, I am glad. So climbing all those stairs wasn't wasted.

Lady Mary Crawley: .... then why are you here?
Lady Edith Crawley: Because, in the end, you're my sister and one day, only we will remember Sybil... or Mama or Papa or Matthew or Michael or Granny or Carson or any of the others who have peopled our youth... until, at last, our shared memories will mean more than our mutual dislike.

—
+ Quotes on the IMDb

Downton Abbey 6×7

Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham: The last thing you need at this stage in your life is to quarrel with your son and daughter-in-law.
Isobel Crawley: Precisely.
Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham: But don't fear. I'll call on Miss Cruikshank before I leave.
Isobel Crawley: I suspect she's quite a tough nut.
Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham: And I'm quite a tough nutcracker.

Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham: Now, Mrs Crawley tells me that you paid her a visit when you first came, that you were amazingly friendly.
Miss Cruikshank: Well, I hope I'm always friendly.
Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham: Nobody's always friendly.

Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham: Larry Grey has spoken to Mrs Crawley in a manner that in any other century would have resulted in him being called out and shot.

Anna Bates: They do say that opposites attract.
Lady Mary Crawley: Yes, they attract. But do they live happily ever after?

Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham: We'll cruise around the Mediterranean, then I'm staying with the Broughams in Cannes. They keep asking me.
Isobel Crawley: Surrounded by foreigners.
Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham: My reason for travelling is to make myself eager to come home. A month among the French should manage it.

Lady Rosamund Painswick: I went past the site of Devonshire House on my way home. There's something vast going up in its place. Flats and offices and salerooms.
Tom Branson: People don't want vast palaces any more, even if they can afford them.
Robert Crawley, Earl of Grantham: They were fun, though. In my youth, all the great hostesses used to have luncheon laid for 20 every day. And if you turned up in time, you just sat down to a lovely feed.

Mr. Carson: That's nice, isn't it?
Mrs. Hughes: They don't live badly, you have to concede.
Mr. Carson: They live as they're supposed to live. It has its burdens and its benefits. Better than a life of just burden.

Daisy Robinson: Will you miss it?
Joseph Molesley: Oh, let's face it. I were never going to make butler. Well, not in a proper house like this one. And from now on, there's going to be more and more people chasing fewer and fewer jobs, so it's probably time. And this seemed like a good way to go.

Mr. Carson: But how are you going to cook?
Mrs. Hughes: I can't cook! I can't lift. But it's not difficult. I'll talk you through it, don't worry.
Mr. Carson: You mean... I'm going to cook?!

Mrs. Hughes: It's very straightforward. Now, get the chicken in the oven right away, then peel the potatoes and prepare the cauliflower. Oh, and put a kettle on to boil. You should find bread and an onion for the bread sauce. Butter and milk are in the meat safe outside. I assume that none of us are going to eat anything else.

Robert Crawley, Earl of Grantham: Sudden, stupid, wasteful death. It was a bloody awful business. A bloody, bloody awful business.
Lady Rosamund Painswick: The English language never lets you down.
Robert Crawley, Earl of Grantham: Oh, shut up!

Tom Branson: You're frightened of being hurt again. But let me tell you this. You will be hurt again, and so will I, because being hurt is part of being alive.

Mr. Carson: Is that it now? Are we done?
Mrs. Hughes: Oh, just put the things in to soak. Make sure you cover the pots with water. You don't have to do the washing up till tomorrow if you don't want to.
Mr. Carson: You won't be better by the morning?
Mrs. Hughes: Oh, not for that. We could ask Billy to come over, but he's got his own work to do. You don't mind, do you?...

Mrs. Patmore: Oh, talking of which, has Mr Carson survived his ordeal from last night?
Mrs. Hughes: Put it this way-- he has discovered a new respect for the role of cook and bottle washer. So I think he'll be giving less trouble in the future.
Mr. Carson: What's so funny?
Mrs. Hughes: Just life, Mr Carson. Just life.

—
+ Quotes on the IMDb

Downton Abbey 6×6

Anna Bates: And if you'd the chance to see the private rooms of the King and Queen, would you pay?
John Bates: But what would it tell me? They sleep in a bed, they eat at a table. So do I.
Thomas Barrow: I always wonder whether someone else is having a better time than I am.
Mr. Carson: But that's what's so dangerous. You think they must be having a better time. Then you want them not to have a better time. The next thing you know, there's a guillotine in Trafalgar Square.
Mrs. Hughes: Ever the optimist.

Mr. Carson: How are you at making coffee?
Mrs. Hughes: I can make coffee. It's not very hard.
Mr. Carson: That's where you're wrong. There's quite an art to it. Uh, you might like to have a word with Mrs Patmore.
Mrs. Hughes: Of course. If you'd like me to.
Mr. Carson: And I want to start bringing things a little more up to standard. I wonder if we could have the hall boy to do some polishing.
Mrs. Hughes: I don't see why not.
Mr. Carson: And you might ask one of the maids about making the bed.
Mrs. Hughes: Isn't that good enough, either?
Mr. Carson: It's not bad. I didn't mean that. But I do like those sharp corners.
Mrs. Hughes: Well. I'm glad it's not bad.

Thomas Barrow: But I am the first!
Mr. Carson: But you are the under butler, a post that is fragrant with memories of a lost world. No-one is sorrier to say it than I am, but you are not a creature of today.
Thomas Barrow: And you are?
Mr. Carson: I don't believe that a house like Downton could be run without a butler. In that sense, yes, I am.
Mr. Carson: Is everything ready for tonight?
Mrs. Hughes: I think so. You're not expecting a banquet, are you?
Mr. Carson: I'm expecting a delicious dinner prepared by the fair hands of my beautiful wife.
Mrs. Hughes: There's a threat in there somewhere...

Lady Mary Crawley: Carson, can you sort it out?
Mr. Carson: Of course, m'lady. I understand it's only the ground floor.
Lady Mary Crawley: And not too much of that. They'll start in the small library, then through the big library, into the painted room, the drawing room, the smoking room, the great hall, in and out of the dining room and back outside.
Bertie Pelham: Rope off across the staircases and the back wing. Who are the guides?
Tom Branson: Do we need guides? Can't they just have a look and leave it at that?
Bertie Pelham: I don't think so. Not if you want them to go away happy, and leave behind what's not theirs.

Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham: If only Mr Chamberlain had spoken...
Robert Crawley, Earl of Grantham: He was never going to say a word. The truth is, Mama, officialdom doesn't care what we think any more. Our influence is finished.
Cora Crawley, Countess of Grantham: He seems nice, and he's certainly organised. ...
Robert Crawley, Earl of Grantham: But what are his prospects? An agent stuck up in Northumberland managing someone else's estate?
Cora Crawley, Countess of Grantham: What are Edith's prospects?
Robert Crawley, Earl of Grantham: Oh, I don't know. With her magazine, I think she could develop into one of the interesting women of the day.
Cora Crawley, Countess of Grantham: Ten years ago, that very idea would have filled you with horror.
Robert Crawley, Earl of Grantham: I've changed, you've changed, the world's changed.

Robert Crawley, Earl of Grantham: Do be logical.
Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham: I am sick and tired of logic! If I could choose between principle and logic, I'd take principle every time!

Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham: Just tell Cora I do not wish to see her face until I'm used to having a traitor in the family!

Mrs. Hughes: My, my. You're blazing a trail now. Have you found anyone to hit with that yet?
Mr. Carson: If I had my way, I'd hit the lot of them.

—
+ Quotes on the IMDb

Downton Abbey 6×5

Tom Branson: A day of racing cars and pigs. Who could better that?

Mrs. Hughes: I hope he gets more fun out of his hamper than Mr Carson did.
Mrs. Patmore: Why? What was the matter with it?
Mrs. Hughes: Nothing was the matter with it. Except for the fact that, I don't seem to cook like his mother.Oh, I think the correct response is to say "Men!" and sigh.

Cora Crawley, Countess of Grantham: Chamberlain's office rang to confirm that he is dining here on Friday.
Robert Crawley, Earl of Grantham: I wish he weren't. But you'll line up the opposition?
Cora Crawley, Countess of Grantham: Certainly. I already have. What a nuisance it is.
Robert Crawley, Earl of Grantham: Mama is not a good loser. She's had so little experience.

Denker: I just thought he'd behaved very badly towards your ladyship.
Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham: It is not your place even to have opinions of my acquaintance. Let alone express them.
Denker: He can't claim your friendship now. Not when he's turned against you!
Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham: If I withdrew my friendship from everyone who had spoken ill of me, my address book would be empty.
Denker: Yes, but surely...
Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham: For a lady's maid to insult a physician in the open street! You've read too many novels, Denker. You've seen too many moving pictures.

Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham: I was sticking up for you. And for that, I will write a tepid character, which may enable you to find employment elsewhere. But from this house, you must go, forthwith.
Denker: But m'lady...
Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham: You may stay tonight, but you must go tomorrow. Go!

Isobel Crawley: Are you sure? I can't believe Doctor Clarkson could wish her to lose her position.
Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham: Then he shouldn't have sent it. When we unleash the dogs of war, we must go where they take us.

Isobel Crawley: You'll stop at nothing to get your own way. Isn't that the truth?
Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham: Indeed. It is a quality I share with Marlborough, Wellington and my late mother. I was trained in a hard school and I fight accordingly.

Cora Crawley, Countess of Grantham: My mother-in-law has a certain myopia when it comes to anyone else's point of view.
Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham: On the contrary, I have a clarity of vision that allows me to resist a housemaid's trap of sentimentality.
Isobel Crawley: Your enthusiasm is getting the better of your manners.

Mr. Carson: I can't believe it.
Mrs. Hughes: Life is short, death is sure. That is all we know...
Mrs. Patmore: There is a man who's been shaken to the roots of his soul. Everything he based his life on has proved mortal, after all.
Mrs. Hughes: We've no time for philosophy, Mrs Patmore. What can we do to help?
Mrs. Patmore: Let's send up some coffee.

Lady Mary Crawley: To be more precise, Tom, from now on you and I need to take full responsibility for the estate. ...
Tom Branson: So long live our own Queen Mary.

—
+ Quotes on the IMDb

Downton Abbey 6×4

Baxter: You don't know what you're asking.
Joseph Molesley: "All that's needed for evil to triumph is that good men do nothing."

Joseph Molesley: "The Carsons..." Are we gonna have to call her "Mrs Carson"?

Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham: What sort of Talbot is he?
Lady Shackleton: Shrewsbury. But he's nowhere near the earldom. About 40 strong men would have to drop dead.
Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham: Well, nothing is impossible. Without it, what are his prospects?
Lady Shackleton: Adequate, but not overwhelming.
Robert Crawley, Earl of Grantham: Honestly, listen to yourselves.
Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham: Lady Shackleton is quite right. Mary needs more than a handsome smile and a hand on the gear stick.
Robert Crawley, Earl of Grantham: I'm surprised you know what a gear stick is.
Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham: I know more than you think.

Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham: Really, Robert? You paint me as such a schemer.
Robert Crawley, Earl of Grantham: No-one has sharper eyes than a loving son.
Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham: You read that somewhere.
Robert Crawley, Earl of Grantham: Why do you never think I can make anything up?

Lady Shackleton: I expect there's a good deal to be said on both sides.
Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham: Don't be so feeble!
Lady Shackleton: How can I present myself as an expert when I don't know the facts?
Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham: It's never stopped me!

Cora Crawley, Countess of Grantham: Don't hide behind Lady Shackleton, Mama. You're quite capable of landing your own punches. The question is which system is more likely to deliver modern treatment to the local population?
Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham: That is not the point.
Lady Rosamund Painswick: I should have thought that was exactly the point.
Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham: You've muddled your priorities!
Lady Rosamund Painswick: I suppose cousin Isobel is entitled to put up an argument.
Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham: Of course she is, she's just not entitled to win it.

Dr Ryder: We got there in time. I've put in the stitch I spoke of and as they say in medical novels, I'm cautiously optimistic.

Lady Rosamund Painswick: Is it really so important to keep the Crawleys in command, Mama?
Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham: That is my sole motive, is it?
Lady Rosamund Painswick: Isn't it?
Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham: No. No, it is not. For years, I've watched governments take control of our lives. And their argument is always the same -- fewer costs, greater efficiency. But the result is the same, too -- less control by the people, more control by the state. Until the individual's own wishes count for nothing. That is what I consider my duty to resist.
Isobel Crawley: By wielding your unelected power?
Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham: You see, the point of a so-called 'great family' is to protect our freedoms. That is why the barons made King John sign the Magna Carta.
Lady Rosamund Painswick: I do see that your argument was more honourable than I'd appreciated. But, Mama, we're not living in 1215. And the strengths of great families like ours is going, that's just fact.
Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham: Your great-grandchildren won't thank you when the state is all-powerful because we didn't fight.
Lady Rosamund Painswick: Well, I won't have any, so I can live with that.

Lady Mary Crawley: We ought to go down. I could hear them shouting from my bedroom.
Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham: I haven't been into the kitchens for at least 20 years.
Isobel Crawley: Have you got your passport?

Lady Edith Crawley: Well, I'd like to be a sort of co-editor, but no man will put up with that so I'm going to try and find a woman.
Isobel Crawley: A woman editor? I applaud you.
Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham: Of course you do. Presumably we may now look forward to women field marshals and a woman pope!

Robert Crawley, Earl of Grantham: "Mrs Carson..." It's like Jane Eyre asking to be called Mrs Rochester. I'll never get used to it.
Cora Crawley, Countess of Grantham: None of us will.

—
+ Quotes on the IMDb

Downton Abbey 6×3

Mrs. Hughes: But this is our day, My Lady. It's about Charles Carson and Elsie Hughes. And not about this glorious house or the glorious people who have lived in it. Just us, and that's the way I'd like to celebrate it.
Cora Crawley, Countess of Grantham: I couldn't understand more, Mrs Hughes. I hope we'll be invited.
Mrs. Hughes: Of course you will all be invited. We'd be honoured if you come. But it would be our day, celebrated in our way.

Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham: I know nothing of Spratt's friends. I know he has a great many relations who seem to get married and buried with numbing regularity. Usually on very inconvenient days.

Daisy Robinson: What is it?
Joseph Molesley: Oh... I don't know if I should tell you.
Daisy Robinson: Tell me if it's important. Don't if it's not.

Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham: Did you drink at luncheon?
Isobel Crawley: No, I did not. Which you know very well since we were together.
Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham: Not all the time...

Thomas Barrow: Typical though, isn't it? 30 years of service, one wrong move, and... snap, you're out on your ear.

Cora Crawley, Countess of Grantham: Mrs Hughes, I won't beat about the bush. I behaved badly earlier. I hope you'll accept my apology.
Mrs. Hughes: It must have been strange to find us all there, My Lady.
Cora Crawley, Countess of Grantham: Nevertheless, I have no excuse to behave as I did. Not to someone who deserves our loyalty as you do. Please forgive me.

Mrs. Hughes: What's happened? What's the matter?
Anna Bates: Nothing's the matter. We've come to dress the bride.
Mrs. Hughes: There's a sentence I never thought I'd hear.

Dr. Clarkson: To be honest, I don't know. But if something is that important, it's worth considering more than once.
Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham: Really? In my experience, second thoughts are vastly overrated.

Dr. Clarkson: It's not just Mrs Crawley and Lady Grantham. Your old friend Lord Merton is in favour of reform.
Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham: A peer in favour of reform. It's like a turkey in favour of Christmas.

Mr. Carson: Before we take our seats, I believe, as the groom, that I have the right to a few words. I will not be prolix, but it must be right that I mark that I am the happiest and luckiest of men. That a woman of such grace and charm should entrust her life's happiness to my unworthy charge... passeth all understanding. To my wonderful bride!

Lady Mary Crawley: So what happened?
Tom Branson: It's quite simple. I had to go all the way to Boston to figure something out. But that's what I did.
Robert Crawley, Earl of Grantham: What was it?
Tom Branson: I learned that Downton is my home. And that you are my family. If I didn't quite know that before I left, I know it now.

—
+ Quotes on the IMDb

Downton Abbey 6×2

Lady Mary Crawley: And you've come to discuss it with Mr Branson.
Mr Finch: I know that's not possible, milady, but if you could tell me who's replaced him...
Lady Mary Crawley: Hold onto your hat, Mr Finch, but I'm afraid I have.
Mr Finch: Mm-hm... Hm. I see.

Lady Mary Crawley: I mean, you're free. Bates is free, the threat's gone away. I'd expect you to be wreathed in smiles but, instead, you seem rather cast down.
Anna Bates: Life's never simple is it, milady?

Lord Merton: I assume old Lady Grantham is still bitterly opposed?
Isobel Crawley: Of course, so there'll be wigs on the green before we're done.
Lord Merton: So be it. Wigs on the green it is.

Anna Bates: Give me a moment, I'll be fine.
John Bates: No. I mean, it's not right for you to cry alone. You're married and that means you never have to cry alone again.

Thomas Barrow: Tell me, Mr Moore, what exactly is an assistant butler? I'm not familiar with the term.
Mr Moore: No, well, we made it up. Ah, so the duties of an assistant butler are not the same as an under butler. I think you have to climb down from that high horse, Mr Barrow. This is 1925. We'd need you to combine the duties of a footman -- when needed -- and a chauffeur.
Thomas Barrow: There's no chauffeur?
Mr Moore: Well, they drive themselves most of the time but, should they need a chauffeur for evening parties and the like, that'd be you.
Thomas Barrow: I see. Well, I can drive, just about. Is that all?
Mr Moore: Do you know how to valet?
Thomas Barrow: Goodness, this is a job for a one-man band!

Isobel Crawley: The facts speak for themselves.
Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham: Your facts or mine?
Isobel Crawley: What's the difference?
Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham: Mine are the true facts.

Mr. Carson: Lady Mary feels... that it's only right that my marriage is celebrated in the house.
Mrs. Hughes: And heaven forfend we lowly folk should do anything to contradict the blessed Lady Mary!
Mr. Carson: That's not like you.
Mrs. Hughes: It is very like me! I want my own wedding to be done in my own way. Is that so outlandish?
Mr. Carson: It's my wedding too.
Mrs. Hughes: But I am the bride, we'll be doing it your way for the next 30 years, I know that well enough, but the wedding day is mine!

Tim Drewe: We made a plan, Lady Edith and I, but we forgot about emotion... and emotion's what can trip you up every time.

—
+ Quotes on the IMDb

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

A Moorland Holiday

Downton Abbey 5×9

Joseph Molesley: It's hard to cope with three ladies at once, what with tweeds, evening dresses, tea gowns and all.
Mrs. Hughes: Tea gowns?! We're not in the 1890s now, Mr Molesley.
Mr. Carson: More's the pity.

Lady Mary Crawley: If you don't like her, why have you sent Shrimpie to her rescue?
Isobel Crawley: That's what I keep asking.
Lady Mary Crawley: Well, Granny?
Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham: Oh, you know me. Never complain. Never explain. You don't usually have much trouble complaining...

Isobel Crawley: I assume you know about Lady Mary's visit this morning?
Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham: I do. I don't like it. Suppose it gets into the papers. 'Earl's loyal daughter visits maid in prison.'
Isobel Crawley: I should think the public would like her for it.
Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham: Whether they do or not, I hate to give them the chance to poke their grubby noses into our business.
Mr. Carson: Lord Sinderby, Branson and Barrow - not what I'd call a recipe for a peaceful week's shooting.
Mrs. Hughes: Makes you wonder what they'll be shooting at, by the end of it.

Tom Branson: I wonder if I was right to come. I don't want to sound like Larry Grey, but I'm not Lord Sinderby's idea of a perfect son-in-law.
Lady Mary Crawley: Stuff and nonsense! We Crawleys stick together.
Lady Edith Crawley: For once I agree with Mary. You'll enjoy it when we get there. Besides, you're a good shot. Any host will forgive a lot if you get the numbers up.

Prince Kuragin: It will be easier not to be alone at first. I haven't seen her for five years. I want you all here.
Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham: The presence of strangers is our only guarantee of good behaviour.

Mr. Carson: Who have you invited?
Mrs. Patmore: Oh, just us, Mr Bates, Mr Molesley and Daisy.
Mr. Carson: Daisy? To wait on us, I assume?
Mrs. Patmore: To wait on us and eat with us. If that thought's too democratically overpowering, you can share what I've made for the housemaids. It is your choice.

Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham: It is... delicious.
Spratt: It can't be! It's not possible!
Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham: There's a point, Spratt, where malice ceases to be amusing. Thank you, Denker, very much. I'm not hungry enough to do your soup justice this evening. Let us... save its delights for another day.

Isobel Crawley: And you've never strayed again?
Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham: I've never risked everything again.
Isobel Crawley: It's not quite what I asked.
Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham: It's all the answer you'll get. Remember, we were the Edwardians.

Mr. Carson: I hope you don't mind, but I hate to change a plan when there's no need.

Mrs. Hughes: Who knows what the future may hold? Or how much longer we'll even be here? Suppose you want to... move away and change your life entirely. You don't want to be stuck with me.
Mr. Carson: But that's the point.
Mrs. Hughes: What is?
Mr. Carson: I do want to be stuck with you.
Mrs. Hughes: I'm not convinced I can be hearing this right.
Mr. Carson: You are, if you think I'm asking you to marry me.... Well?
Mrs. Hughes: Well... You could knock me down with a feather.
Mr. Carson: And you're not offended?
Mrs. Hughes: Oh, Mr Carson,... I can assure you the very last thing in the world that I am at this moment is offended.

Mr. Carson: You can take as long as you like - I won't press you. Because one thing I do know - I'm not marrying anyone else.
Mrs. Hughes: Well, then...
Mr. Carson: What exactly are we celebrating?
Mrs. Hughes: We're celebrating the fact that I can still get a proposal at my age.
Mr. Carson: And that's... it?
Mrs. Hughes: Of course I'll marry you, you old booby. I thought you'd never ask.

—
+ Quotes on the IMDb

Downton Abbey 5×8

Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham: Love may not conquer all, but it can conquer quite a lot.

Mrs. Hughes: Could we borrow a spare footman?
Mr. Carson: I don't know. Borrowing footmen sounds like something out of the last century. Even to me!

Prince Kuragin: The last years have been ugly. I don't want what remains to be ugly.

Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham: My dear, love is a far more dangerous motive than dislike.

Mrs. Patmore: If it was so lovely, why have you been in a gloom since you got back?
Daisy Robinson: It showed me what I've been missing. Before I started studying I thought history, art or 'owt like that were only for the family, not for us.
Joseph Molesley: Surely it's a good thing, if your horizons have expanded?
Daisy Robinson: In a way, but it's shown me how empty my life's been until now.
Mrs. Hughes: You've learned a trade. You're skilled. You're an artist yourself. Look at this wedding cake.
Daisy Robinson: What for? So I can skivvy in a kitchen that isn't even mine?

Lady Edith Crawley: I dare say this is a first for you, Granny, to sample the joys of a registry office.
Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham: You'd be quite wrong, no, in 1878 I attended the wedding of Lord Rosebery and Hannah Rothschild held in the Board of Guardians, very much the same.
Isobel Crawley: It seems almost sad in a way.
Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham: But in marrying a Rothschild, there are certain compensations.
Lady Manville: How are you two bearing up?
Cora Crawley, Countess of Grantham: Well, thank you, Lady Manville.
Lady Manville: I do feel for you. It must be very trying, but I so admire you for putting on a good face.
Cora Crawley, Countess of Grantham: I wonder if you remember that my father was Jewish?
Lady Manville: Oh. I'm afraid I... That is... How interesting...

Mr. Carson: I have faith in British justice. Mr Bates was released in the end.
Mrs. Hughes: After he'd served time. Sorrow seems to shadow them both and in their wake, it shadows us.
Mr. Carson: Come, Mrs Hughes. This isn't like you. Take courage for their sake. We must always travel in hope.

—
+ Quotes on the IMDb

Downton Abbey 5×7

Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham: You see, as a mother, it is her right.
Lady Rosamund Painswick: But you don't plan to tell Robert? He is Edith's father.
Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham: He's a man. Men don't have rights.

Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham: Maybe we should take some air. I think we might emulate the others and let Cora show us the garden.
Robert Crawley, Earl of Grantham: I'm not sure what good that'll do.
Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham: When I say we need some air, we need some air. Cora...

Cora Crawley, Countess of Grantham: I'm sorry, Mama. You go ahead without me.
Robert Crawley, Earl of Grantham: I can take you for a walk if you like.
Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham: Why would I want to walk?

Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham: My dear, a lack of compassion can be as vulgar as an excess of tears.

Isobel Crawley: How are you, Spratt? Well, I hope.
Spratt: Everyone has their troubles, M'Lady.
Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham: Oh, dear. Spratt has been helping to train my new maid. Denker.
Spratt: I'd say she takes after the dachshund, M'Lady.
Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham: In what way?
Spratt: She's QUITE untrainable.

Lady Mary Crawley: You needn't pretend. Your positions have changed - you the widow in the Dower House, Isobel a great lady presiding over a great house. But you simply have to be bigger than that.
Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham: Is that what you think of me? That I care about her change of rank?
Lady Mary Crawley: Well, you're not exactly pleased, are you?
Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham: No. But that is not the reason. ... If you must know... I have got used to having a companion. A friend. You know, someone to talk things over with.
Lady Mary Crawley: Well, you'll still have us.
Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham: You have your own lives. And so you should. But Isobel and I had a lot in common. And... I shall miss her.
Lady Mary Crawley: Granny, you're quite dewy-eyed. I never think of you as sentimental.
Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham: Nor am I.

Larry Grey: I know the choice of in-laws is eccentric. In this family, you already boast a chauffeur and soon you can claim a Jew--
Tom Branson: Why don't you just get out, you bastard?!
Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham: And suddenly we've slipped into a foreign tongue.
Robert Crawley, Earl of Grantham: I do not endorse Tom's language but that is certainly how we all feel.

Mrs. Patmore: He actually called him that?
Joseph Molesley: He did. Right to his face.
Mr. Carson: Mr Moseley, please.
Mrs. Patmore: I think he was right to say it.
Mr. Carson: He may have been right but I will not have bad language in front of the maids.

—
+ Quotes on the IMDb

Downton Abbey 5×6

John Bates: I found a book by Marie Stopes and a box containing a cunning piece of equipment to ensure there would be no Baby Bates.

Mrs. Patmore: He's very kind, you know. We should always be polite to people who are kind. There's not much of it about.

Dr. Clarkson: Remember - harsh reality is always better than false hope.

Cora Crawley, Countess of Grantham: Very well. If you can honestly say you have never let a flirtation get out of hand since we married, if you have never given a woman the wrong impression, then by all means stay away. Otherwise, I expect you back in my room tonight.

Lady Mary Crawley: Granny, what do you think?
Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham: Oh. It is you. I thought it was a man wearing your clothes.
Cora Crawley, Countess of Grantham: It suits you.
Lady Mary Crawley: Papa, do you agree?
Robert Crawley, Earl of Grantham: It's certainly just the sort of thing I would expect of you.

Isobel Crawley: I think she's splendid.
Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham: I think she's cracked.
Isobel Crawley: It's good to do some crazy things when you're young.
Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham: As long as you survive them.
Isobel Crawley: Some do crazy things all their lives.
Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham: Hmph.

Isobel Crawley: He seems a nice boy, and it's not like the Catholics, is it? She won't be expected to convert.
Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham: Con... Convert to what?
Isobel Crawley: Judaism. I read in an article, Lord Sinderby is a leading figure in the Jewish community.
Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham: There's always something, isn't there?

Mr. Carson: Mrs Hughes, may I make a suggestion that I think you'll find a strange one, but I ask that you consider, none the less.
Mrs. Hughes: Heavens. I'm all agog.
Mr. Carson: Do you think that we should... um... invest in a property together?
Mrs. Hughes: What on earth do you mean?
Mr. Carson: I was thinking, if Mrs Patmore can do it, then we might buy somewhere jointly, as a business venture, mind, spruce it up and share the rental income. We'd have a tidy sum by the time we retired.

—
+ Quotes on the IMDb

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?

—
+ Quotes on the IMDb

Downton Abbey 5×4

Isobel Crawley: You mustn't give up hope.
Prince Kuragin: When you go through a storm like ours, you give up hope quite early on in the proceedings.
Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham: I agree. Hope is a tease, designed to prevent us accepting reality.
Isobel Crawley: Oh, you only say that to sound clever.
Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham: I know. You should try it.

Isobel Crawley: I presume you and Prince Kuragin were once... attracted to each other.
Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham: 'Attracted to each other'? Is that what you call it? As it happens, he asked me to run away with him.
Isobel Crawley: But you didn't go.
Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham: No, Lord Grantham gave me a frame by Faberge, with two pictures of the children in it, and I saw sense.
Isobel Crawley: Lord Grantham sounds rather more subtle than I'd realised.
Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham: Well, like all Englishmen of his type, he hid his qualities beneath a thick blanket of convention, so I didn't see who he really was at first.
Isobel Crawley: It was lucky you found out in time.
Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham: If it was in time...

Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham: I never take sides in a broken marriage.
Isobel Crawley: Why is that?
Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham: Because, however much the couple may strive to be honest, no-one is ever in possession of the facts.

Joseph Molesley: Well, it's not like the old days, is it? I mean, the duties of the First Footman are shared between a lot of people now, aren't they?
Mr. Carson: Are they?
Joseph Molesley: Well, they should be... because I've got the duties of the Second and Third Footman to deal with.
Mr. Carson: So, you don't feel you need the precedence that the title 'First Footman' confers? Joseph Molesley: Er... well, not really, no.
Mr. Carson: Very well. I'll see what I can do.

—
+ Quotes on the IMDb

Downton Abbey 5×3

Lord Anthony Gillingham: Does it matter if we get found out? We're gonna be down the aisle before you can say, "Jack Robinson."
Lady Mary Crawley: No. And yes, it does matter. I've been tarnished once and I won't be tarnished again. Nothing is going to happen that isn't properly announced organised and executed.

Isobel Crawley: It seems unlikely to think of Spratt with a private life.
Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham: Hm. Yes. Unlikely and extremely inconvenient.
Isobel Crawley: But you can't begrudge him that. Servants are human beings too.
Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham: Yes. But preferably only on their days off.

Lady Mary Crawley: Obviously, it's very shocking to someone of your generation.
Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham: Don't let us hide behind the changing times, my dear. This is shocking to most people in 1924.

Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham: Can we be confident that there will be no unwanted epilogue?
Lady Mary Crawley: You can be quite sure.
Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham: Well, I must say that makes a nice...
Lady Mary Crawley: A nice what?
Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham: A nice kettle of fish.

Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham: Is there any chance of a proposal?
Lady Mary Crawley: Every chance. He already has. He wants to set the date.
Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham: Oh. Oh, I see. Well, I'm not saying I approve because I don't. But it does put things in rather a different light.
Lady Mary Crawley: Yes.
Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham: When will you announce it?
Lady Mary Crawley: I'm not sure. We haven't decided.
Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham: Then you'd better get on with it. If I was seduced by a man, I would not let any grass grow under his feet if he'd offered to do the decent thing.
Lady Mary Crawley: I wasn't seduced, Granny.
Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham: A young woman of good family who finds herself in the bed of a man who is not her husband has invariably been seduced. She couldn't have gone to bed with him of her own free will? NOT if she was the daughter of an Earl.

Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham: An unlucky friend is tiresome enough. An unlucky acquaintance is intolerable.
Isobel Crawley: You're all heart!

Robert Crawley, Earl of Grantham: Cora, I was cross. I had travelled the length of England to spend the evening with you and you had gone out. Aren't I allowed to be cross?
Cora Crawley, Countess of Grantham: Cross but not unjust.

Lady Mary Crawley: What were you doing in Russia?
Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham: Lord Grantham was in the household of Prince Alfred. And we went to St Petersburg for their wedding.
Lady Rose MacClare: I suppose it was very splendid.
Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham: Oh, you've no idea. Receptions and balls. Glittering parades. Rides in a horse-drawn sleigh. Flying across the snow at midnight.

Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham: We were at a ball. In the Winter Palace. And it was so... Oh, it was so hot. There were icicles hanging outside the window. But the rooms were as hot as the tropics. I was wearing pale blue velvet. Trimmed with silver lace...

Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham: Stop giving me such knowing looks. I met the prince when I was travelling with your grandfather. Nothing could be more respectable.
Lady Mary Crawley: Whatever you say.
Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham: Away with your impertinent conclusions!
Lady Mary Crawley: My only conclusion is this - I know you understand my predicament far better than you let on.

—
+ Quotes on the IMDb

Downton Abbey 5×2

Joseph Molesley: Ooh, Mr Carson.
Mr. Carson: What is it now?
Joseph Molesley: Now that Jimmy, erm, James, has gone, do I take it that I am now first footman?
Mr. Carson: Since you are the only footman, you are first, second, third and last. Make what you will of it.
Mrs. Hughes: Mr Moseley, we are nearly at the end of those distinctions. There will come a time when a household is lucky to boast any footman.
Mr. Carson: Now get that up to the dining room.

Cora Crawley, Countess of Grantham: Why are you so against getting a wireless?
Robert Crawley, Earl of Grantham: I wish she'd just say it. "Cousin Robert, please buy a wireless for Downton."
Cora Crawley, Countess of Grantham: I wouldn't mind.
Robert Crawley, Earl of Grantham: That's because you're American. I find the whole idea a kind of thief of life. People waste hours huddled around a box listening to someone burbling inanities from somewhere else.
Cora Crawley, Countess of Grantham: But surely now with the latest news and it must be a boon for the old.
Robert Crawley, Earl of Grantham: What do you think, Bates?
John Bates: I can't see the Dowager with a wireless, my lady.
Robert Crawley, Earl of Grantham: It's a fad. It won't last.

Cora Crawley, Countess of Grantham: Tom's gone to ask if she'd like some dinner.
Robert Crawley, Earl of Grantham: You're not serious.
Cora Crawley, Countess of Grantham: She's the first friend Tom's made that has nothing to do with us and we must respect that.
Robert Crawley, Earl of Grantham: So every time we entertain we must invite this tinpot Rosa Luxemburg.
Lady Rose MacClare: Who's she?
Robert Crawley, Earl of Grantham: A German communist who was shot and thrown in the canal.
Cora Crawley, Countess of Grantham: We wouldn't wish that on Miss Bunting.

Lady Rose MacClare: Cousin Robert? Did you see that the King is going to speak on the wireless? It was in the paper today.
Robert Crawley, Earl of Grantham: Don't be silly.
Lady Rose MacClare: No, it's true. For the opening of the British Empire Exhibition. It's being broadcast on the 23rd. I just thought you'd like to know.
Robert Crawley, Earl of Grantham: Is this true, Carson?
Mr. Carson: I believe so, my lord.
Lady Rose MacClare: Talking about the Empire too.
Robert Crawley, Earl of Grantham: I wonder. If the King wants to use the wireless to speak to his people maybe we have to listen.
Mr. Carson: I wouldn't say that, my lord. Is it not a case of the King being forced into accepting a humiliating assignment by his ministers?
Robert Crawley, Earl of Grantham: Are you saying the King is a weak man, Carson?
Mr. Carson: Never that, my lord. But even kings must bow to pressure sometimes.
Robert Crawley, Earl of Grantham: And should we not support him in his hour of endurance?... Oh, cheer up. We can always hire one. Surely we won't be corrupted if it's only in the house for a day.

Lady Rose MacClare: Why is it called a wireless when there's so many wires?

Mr. Carson: What's this I see? Servants loitering in the hall with her ladyship due at any moment.
Mrs. Patmore: Look at that. If I touch it, will I get a shock?
Mr. Carson: You'll only get a shock if you listen to it.
Mrs. Hughes: I think it's exciting. We're catching up, Mr Carson. Whether you like it or not, Downton is catching up with the times we lived in.
Mr. Carson: That is exactly what I am afraid of.

Robert Crawley, Earl of Grantham: What do you think, Carson? Mrs Hughes, the King on the wireless?
Mr. Carson: I prefer to think of him on his throne, my lord.
Mrs. Hughes: To me it's a good thing. To make him less of a myth, more of a man.
Robert Crawley, Earl of Grantham: Well, I hope you've all taken something of value from it.
Isobel Crawley: Mrs Hughes is right. The radio somehow makes the King more real.
Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham: The monarchy has thrived on magic and mystery. Strip them away and people may think the royal family is just like us.
Isobel Crawley: Well, would that be so wrong?
Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham: Well, only if they want to stay at Buckingham Palace.

—
+ Quotes on the IMDb

Downton Abbey 5×1

Daisy Robinson: 34 years! If I were to marry this year, what would life be like in 1958?

Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham: Oh, dear. Oh, why the lamentation? You don't have to see him.
Isobel Crawley: Well, you make it sound so easy.
Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham: There's nothing simpler than avoiding people you don't like. Avoiding one's friends - that's the real test.
Isobel Crawley: But I do like him. I think he's very nice. It's just, he wants something from me that I cannot give.
Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham: He just wants what all men want.
Isobel Crawley: Oh, don't be ridiculous!
Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham: I was referring to companionship. As I hope you were.

Mr. Carson: This sounds very like the kind of boys' talk I do not allow. If you can both tear yourselves away from your smutty deliberations, I need you both upstairs.

Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham: Spratt... Offer Dr Clarkson some cake. Then you may go. Thank you.
Dr. Clarkson: I'm afraid serving me is a bit beneath his dignity.
Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham: Even Spratt cannot always live for pleasure.

Mr. Carson: I'm not comfortable being placed ahead of His Lordship. You should have seen his face, Mrs Hughes. He felt very let down.
Mrs. Hughes: It's the Committee's choice, and they've chosen you.
Mr. Carson: And the country's chosen a Labour government, so people don't always get it right.

Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham: I thought you might be amused by how friendly he and Mrs Crawley have become.
Dr. Clarkson: What Mrs Crawley chooses to do with her private life is her own affair.
Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham: Oh, dear. I've annoyed you.
Dr. Clarkson: No, no, no, I'm not annoyed... although I am surprised to learn that she entertains notions of passing her time at drawing-room receptions and taking carriage rides in the park.
Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham: Well, no-one takes carriage rides in the park any more. That's quite gone.
Dr. Clarkson: I wouldn't know.

Cora Crawley, Countess of Grantham: It doesn't really bother you they want Carson, does it?
Robert Crawley, Earl of Grantham: They'd be lucky to get him. Even so, it makes you think. Would a village delegation have arrived in my grandfather's day to ask his butler to head an appeal?
Cora Crawley, Countess of Grantham: We're not living in your grandfather's day.
Robert Crawley, Earl of Grantham: No, we are not.

Lady Mary Crawley: I think you, Tom and I make a pretty good team. By the way, I've been looking into crop rotation and grain sales--
Robert Crawley, Earl of Grantham: And not every father hears that from his daughter.

Lady Mary Crawley: The older I get, the more I feel we do these things very oddly. Even now we must decide whether to share our lives with someone without ever spending any real time with them. Let alone... you know. Of course, these days, some women do. I was talking to Lady Cunard's daughter last week, and she was so graphic, I almost fainted. But then, what could be more important? To make sure that that side of things is right... before we tie ourselves to someone for ever?
Anna Bates: I'm afraid I'm too old-fashioned for you, m'lady.

Isobel Crawley: Can't Tom have a friend of his own?
Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham: Oh, of course. But it's time he decided whether he is fish, flesh, fowl or good red herring.

Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham: Now, if you can all put your swords away, perhaps we can finish our dinner in a civilised manner.
Isobel Crawley: But I admire it, when young people stand up for their principles.
Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham: Principles are like prayers. Noble, of course, but awkward at a party.

Mrs. Hughes: And have you told him that?
Mr. Carson: He doesn't need to know everything, Mrs Hughes. Nobody has to know everything.

—
+ Quotes on the IMDb

The London Season

Downton Abbey 4×9

Thomas Barrow: Marvelous, isn't it? One minute he's the chauffeur and in the normal way of things, he'd be below me now. But instead I have to wait on him hand and foot, standing there while he decides what might please him next.
Ivy Stuart: He never strikes me as being like that. He always seems friendly.
Thomas Barrow: But we still have to call him "sir."

Ethan Slade: Would you care for one of these? I think they're quite nice.
Mr. Carson: Have you lost your mind?!
Ethan Slade: Why? What have I done?
Mr. Carson: You're a footman, not a traveling salesman! Please keep your opinions on the catering to yourself!

Honorable Madeleine Allsopp: Do you know England well, Mr. Levinson?
Martha Levinson: Uh, not really. He hasn't been here since my daughter got married.
Harold Levinson: But don't worry, I'm well prepared for cold baths, warm drinks and, most of all, the food.

Tom Branson: The point is, we only went upstairs so she could enjoy the view down into the hall. I wouldn't want you to think any different.
Thomas Barrow: However you wish to command me, I am your servant, Mr. Branson. But I was not aware I was under orders as to what I might think.

Lord Merton: What changed your mind?
Isobel Crawley: Well, I suppose it came to me that these balls and presentations and comings out are not just aristocratic folderol, but traditions by which members of this family measure their progress through life.
Lord Merton: And you wanted to be part of that?
Isobel Crawley: Well, I felt by dismissing it as trivia, I was being smug and intolerant.
Lord Merton: Do they know what they have in you?
Isobel Crawley: I know what I have in them.

Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham: Cora insisted I come without a maid. I can't believe she understood the implications.
Isobel Crawley: Which are?
Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham: Well, how do I get a guard to take my luggage? And when we arrive in London, what happens then?
Isobel Crawley: Fear not. I have never traveled with a maid; you can share my knowledge of the jungle.
Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham: Can't you even offer help without sounding like a trumpeter on the peak of the moral high ground?
Isobel Crawley: And must you always sound like the sister of Marie Antoinette?
Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham: The Queen of Naples was a stalwart figure. I take it as a compliment.
Isobel Crawley: You take everything as a compliment.
Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham: I advise you to do the same. It saves many an awkward moment.

Lady Rose MacClare: Mm, we're packed in like sardines, but I suppose it's not for long.
Mrs. Patmore: If the family's sardines, m'lady, the staff are like maggots.

Cora Crawley, Countess of Grantham: We should start the dancing, and I think it would be nice if you began it with Rose.
Robert Crawley, Earl of Grantham: Family duty comes in many forms.

Mrs. Hughes: It's a lot of work. You'd better take James with you.
Mr. Carson: We can manage with Mr. Molesley for lunch. Would you mind?
Joseph Molesley: I'm a footman. I don't have the right to mind.
Mr. Carson: Thank you, Wat Tyler.

Lady Mary Crawley: Charles is on the other side of that struggle. He's an outsider who resents the very people I come from. Even if he loves me, how can we pull as a team?

Lord Billy Aysgarth: Don't you want to be Lady Aysgarth and rank alongside your daughter?
Martha Levinson: Lord Aysgarth, I'm a modern. I don't hanker for those days before the war. And I don't really want to spend the rest of my life among people who think me loud and opinionated and common.
Lord Billy Aysgarth: But I assure you, they wouldn't.
Martha Levinson: Well, yes, they would. And you know, they'd be right, because I think they are narrow and pompous and boring.

Lady Edith Crawley: So did you enjoy it? After all?
Tom Branson: I enjoyed it fine, but we need to stand up to them, you and I. We may love them, but if we don't fight our corner, they'll roll us out flat.

Martha Levinson: Well, actually, I turned him down.
Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham: Oh? You surprise me.
Martha Levinson: Mm-hmm, I'm sure. You see, I have no wish to be a Great Lady.
Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham: No, a decision that must be reinforced whenever you look in the glass...
Martha Levinson: ... Violet? I don't mind looking in the mirror. Because what I see is a woman who's not afraid of the future. My world is coming nearer and your world? It's slipping further and further away. Good night.

—
+ Quotes on the IMDb