Downton Abbey Quotes: “Downton Abbey” is a British historical drama television series that aired from 2010 to 2015. Created by Julian Fellowes, the show is set in the fictional Yorkshire country estate of Downton Abbey and spans the early 20th century, specifically from the sinking of the Titanic in 1912 to the mid-1920s. The series focuses on the lives of the aristocratic Crawley family and their servants who work in the household.
The show explores the intricacies of class hierarchy, social change, and the challenges faced by both the upper class and the working class during this time period. It delves into the personal and professional lives of the Crawley family members, their interactions with the staff, and the historical events that shape their world.
Downton Abbey Quotes
1. “It’s easy to be generous when you have nothing to lose.” – Lady Mary Crawley, Season One, Episode Five.
2. “All alone with plenty of money and a house in Eton Square. I can’t imagine anything better.” – Lady Mary Crawley, Season One, Episode Five.
3. “I never know which is worse. The sorrow when you hit the bird. Or the shame when you miss it.” – Lady Mary Crawley, ‘Downton Abbey’ (2019).
4. “Haven’t you heard? I don’t have a heart. Everyone knows that.” – Lady Mary Crawley, Season One, Episode Four.
5. “You know my character, Father. I’d never marry any man that I was told to. I’m stubborn. I wish I wasn’t, but I am.” – Lady Mary Crawley, Season One, Episode Four.
6. “You’re American, you don’t understand these things.” – Lady Mary Crawley, Season One, Episode Two.
7. “The nature of life is not permanence, but flux.” – Carson, Season Five, Episode One.
8. “I don’t dislike him. I just don’t like him. Which is quite different.” – Lady Violet Crawley, Season Two, Episode Six.
9. “Alas, I am beyond impropriety.” – Count Violet
10. “I look at Mary and all I can see is a tired woman with a tiresome husband. Not a bride on the brink of heaven. I wish I could understand why she goes on with it. Do you think there might be some element I’ve overlooked.” – Lord Grantham
11. “No man can regret loving as I have loved you.” – Mr. Bates
12. “I don’t want my daughter to be married to a man who threatens her with ruin. I want a good man for you. A brave man. Find a cowboy in the middle west and bring him back to shake us up a bit. ”- Lord Grantham
13.“I never could despise you.” – Matthew
14.“I’ve never been special to anyone. I were only ever special to William.” – Daisy
15. “All this unbridled joy has given me quite an appetite.” – Lady Violet Crawley, Season Two, Episode Seven.
16. “How comforting it is that there really are a few good people left in the world.” – Edith Crawley, Season Four, Episode Eight.
17. “I love him. I’d accept him in a trice if it weren’t for Marigold.” – Edith Crawley, Season Six, Episode Eight.
18. “I agree – hope is a tease, designed to prevent us accepting reality” – Lady Violet Crawley, Season Five, Episode Four.
19. “Life is a game, where the player must appear ridiculous.” – Lady Violet Crawley, Season Two, Episode Nine.
20. “I’m a woman, Mary. I can be as contrary as I choose.” – Lady Violet Crawley, Season Two, Episode Four.
21. “Good men… They’re not like buses. There won’t be another one round in 10 minutes.” – Anna, Season Three, Episode One.
22. Susan : “But it will be filthy and dirty and the food will be awful and there’ll be no one to talk to for 100 square miles.”
Violet replies: “That sounds like a week with my mother-in-law.” –Downton Abbey
23. “Er, diamond stars and one tiara.” – Anna
24. “Seems a pity not to take a chance to end a quarrel. Isn’t it better than to let it fester?” – Isobel Crawley, Season Four, Episode Two.
25. “Vulgarity is no substitute for wit.” – Lady Violet Crawley, Season Three, Episode Three.
26. “What simpletons men are.” – Lady Violet Crawley, ‘Downton Abbey’ (2019).
27. “In my day, a lady was incapable of feeling physical attraction until she had been instructed to do so by her mama.” – Dowager Countess, Season Five, Episode Three.
28. “Every woman goes down the aisle with half the story hidden.” – Dowager Countess, Season One, Episode Six.
29. “Oh, it is you! I thought it was a man in your clothes.” – Lady Violet Crawley, Season Five, Episode Six.
30. “No guest should be admitted without the date of their departure settled.” – Lady Violet Crawley, Season Three, Episode Two.
31. “At my age, one must ration one’s excitement.” – Lady Violet Crawley, Season Four, Episode One.
32. “Is this an instrument of communication or torture?” – Lady Violet Crawley, Season Two, Episode Five.
33. “Do you think I might have a drink? Oh, I’m so sorry – I thought you were a waiter.” – Lady Violet Crawley, Season Three, Episode Two.
34. “If I know anything about royal visits, we will never stop changing clothes.” – Lady Edith
35. “Will you have enough cliches to get you through a banquet?” – Violet Crawley, Dowager Countess of Grantham
36. “We’re not footballs and we don’t deserve a kicking.” – Daisy
37. “There’s only one reason old ladies summon their lawyers.” –Rosamund
38. “You shouldn’t be so untrusting.” –Violet
39. “You steer ahead. You’re the captain now.” –Robert Grantham
40. “I’m happy you’re doing something with your brain again. -Cora
Let’s hope it still works.” –Mary
41. “We got through the war. We can get through this.” –Violet
42. “The modern world comes to Downton”. –Cora Grantham
43. “Marriage is a novel, not a short story.
You have been everything to me. Everything.” –Robert
44. “I know. Why can’t men paint themselves out of a corner?” – Violet Crawley, Dowager Countess of Grantham
45. “Royal women are not meant to grin like Cheshire cats” – Violet Crawley, Dowager Countess of Grantham
46. “Its in the papers, it must be true!” – Tom Branson
47. “A shy royal? Is that an oxymoron?” – Robert Crawley, Earl of Grantham
48. “The day has dawned, and the weather proves that God is a Monarchist” –Lady Mary Talbolt
49. “Of course it would happen to a foreigner. No Englishman would dream of dying in someone else’s house.” – Lady Grantham, Season One, Episode Three.
50. “I hope you know that really smart people sleep in separate rooms.” – Lady Mary Crawley, Season One, Episode Seven.
51. ” I said I could drive the tractor.” –Lady Edith Crawley
52. Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham: Edith! You are a Lady. Not Toad of Toad Hall!” – Season Two, Episode Two.
53. “I know several couples who are perfectly happy. Haven’t spoken in years.” – Dowager Countess, Season Six, Episode Three.
54. “A shy royal? Is that an oxymoron?”- Robert Crawley, ‘Downton Abbey’ (2019).
55. “Oh, you know me. Never complain; never explain.” – Lady Violet Crawley, Season Five, Finale.
56. “Come on – I dare you.” – Mrs. Hughes
57. “Isobel Crawley: How you hate to be wrong.
Violet Crawley, Dowager Countess of Grantham: I wouldn’t know, I’m not familiar with the sensation.” – Season Four, Episode Five.
58. “Principles are like prayers; noble, of course, but awkward at a party.” – The Dowager Countess, Season Five, Episode One.
59. “No life appears rewarding if you think too much about it.” – The Dowager Countess, Season Four, Episode Eight.
60. “My dear fellow. We all have chapters we would rather keep unpublished.” – Lord Grantham, Season One, Episode Two.
61. “I have plenty of friends I don’t like.” – Lady Violet Crawley, Season One, Episode Two.
62. “A woman of my age can face reality better than most men.” – Dowager Countess, Season Three, Episode Four.
63. “Suppose a bomb goes off, suppose we’re hit by a falling star? You can hold my hand, then we’ll both go in together.” –Mrs. Hughes
64. ” I think I will hold your hand. It’ll make me feel a bit steadier.” –Charles Carson
65. “You can always hold my hand if you need to feel steady.” –Mrs. Hughes
66. ” And if I did? We’re getting on, Mr Carson, you and I. We can afford to live a little.” –Mrs. Hughes
67. ” I sometimes feel we should make more scenes about things that really matter to us.” –Lady Edith Crawley
68. “The heart does not exist solely for the purpose to pump blood.” – Lady Violet Crawley, Season Two, Episode Two.
69. “We must always travel in hope.” – Carson, Season Five, Episode Eight.
70. “You are being tested. You know what they say darling, being tested only makes you stronger.” – Lady Grantham, Season Three, Episode Three.
71. “Downton Abbey is the heart of this community. And you’re keeping it beating.” – Anna Bates, ‘Downton Abbey’ (2019).
72. “Henry: Will you be best friends now?
Mary: Oh, you’re such a sentimentalist.
Henry: But will you?
Mary: Never you mind. We’re sisters, and sisters have secrets.”-Downton Abbey
73. “It’s good to be in love, whatever age.” – Violet
74. “We are very grateful to you, Carson. I hope you know that. Very grateful indeed. For everything.” – Robert
75. “What a wonderful life we’re going to have.” – Bertie [to Edith]
76. “We like strong women here.” – Tom
77. “I will love you until the last breath leaves my body.” – Matthew Crawley, Season Three, Episode Six.
78. “Every mountain is unclimbable until someone climbs it. So every ship is unsinkable until it sinks.” – Robert Crawley, Season One, Episode One.
79. “What is a “weekend”?” – Lady Violet Crawley, Season One, Episode Two.
80. “We’re modern folk.” – Bertie Pelham, ‘Downton Abbey’ (2019).
81. “Why do you always treat me as if I were a salmon who laid my eggs in the gravel and then swam back to the sea?”-Violet Crawley, Dowager Countess of Grantham: [to Robert]
82. “The presence of strangers is the only guarantee of good behavior.” –Violet Crawley, Dowager Countess of Grantham
83. “Not a lot, really, but these will be my last months at Downton, and you have always been my ally. I’d like to feel we were honest with each other. You see, where I grew up, there were quite a few Marigolds.” –Tom Branson
84. “O, heavens, girl. You’re building a fire, not inventing it.” – Mrs. Hughes, Season One, Episode One.
85. “Sympathy butters no parsnips.” – Mrs. Patmore, Season Five, Episode Three.
86. “There is nothing more ill-bred than trying to steal the affections of one’s dog.” – Lord Grantham, Season Five, Episode Two.
87. “Sarcasm is the lowest form of wit.”- The Dowager Countess, ‘Downton Abbey’ (2019).
88. “First electricity, now telephones. Sometimes I feel as if I were living in an H.G. Wells novel.” – Lady Violet Crawley, Season One, Episode Seven.
89. “War has a way of distinguishing between the things that matter and the things that don’t.” – Matthew Crawley, Season Two, Episode One.
90. “I’d rather have the right man, than the right wedding.” – Anna, Season Six, Episode Six.
91. “I think you know what I want to say, what I want you to say.” –Robert Crawley, Earl of Grantham
92. “Oh, my darling. I’m sure I need your forgiveness quite as much as you need mine.” –Robert Crawley, Earl of Grantham
93. “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.” –Mrs. Hughes
94. “I hope your standards are not so high as to prevent you from remaining in my employment.” – Dowager Countess, Season Five, Episode Six.
95. “Never complain, never explain.” – Lady Violet Crawley, Season Five, Finale.
96. “Every woman goes down the aisle with half the story hidden.” – Lady Violet Crawley, Season One, Episode Six
97. “Nothing in life is sure.” – Mrs. Patmore, Season One, Episode One.
98. “If reason fails, try force!” –Violet Crawley, Dowager Countess of Grantham
99. “I arrived here as a boy. I leave here as a man.” –Thomas Barrow [upon leaving Downton for new employment]
100. “He’s painted himself into a corner.” –Robert Crawley, Earl of Grantham [referring to the Marquess
