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100 Best Quotes from Downton Abbey
Get on your best fancy dress because we’re talking about the most stellar quotes from Downton Abbey!
Downton Abbey is a British drama series about an aristocratic family and the family’s staff. The series stars Michelle Dockery, Maggie Smith, Elizabeth McGovern, and Hugh Bonneville.
After the series ended in 2015, a movie was released four years later and received critical acclaim. With the film’s sequel getting ready to premiere in May this year, let’s take a look at some of the show’s best quotes!
Here’s the scoop on quotes from Downton Abbey!
1. “A woman of my age can face reality better than most men.” – Violet Crawley
2. “I know several couples who are perfectly happy. Haven’t spoken in years.” – Violet Crawley
3. “Haven’t you heard? I don’t have a heart. Everyone knows that.” – Mary Crawley
4. “I have plenty of friends I don’t like.” – Violet Crawley
5. “The heart does not exist solely for the purpose to pump blood.” – Violet Crawley
6. “I will love you until the last breath leaves my body.” – Matthew Crawley
7. “My dear fellow. We all have chapters we would rather keep unpublished.” – Robert Crawley.
8. “Every woman goes down the aisle with half the story hidden.” – Violet Crawley
9. “I don’t dislike him. I just don’t like him. Which is quite different.” – Violet Crawley
10. “There comes a time when things are best left to the professionals.” – Violet Crawley
11. “We are allies, which can be a good deal more effective.” – Violet Crawley
12. “At my age, one must ration one’s excitement.” – Violet Crawley
13. “Oh, heavens, girl. You’re building a fire, not inventing it.” – Mrs. Hughes
14. “I’m not as sad as I ought to be, and that’s what makes me sad.” – Mary Crawley
15. “In my day, a lady was incapable of feeling physical attraction until she had been instructed to do so by her mama.” – Violet Crawley
16. “Every woman goes down the aisle with half the story hidden.” – Violet Crawley
17. “I thought it was supposed to be unsinkable.” – Edith Crawley
18. “Every mountain is unclimbable until someone climbs it. So, every ship is unsinkable until it sinks.” – Robert Crawley
19. “What should we call each other? – Isobel Crawley
20. “Well, we could always start with Mrs. Crawley and Lady Grantham. – Violet Crawley
21. “It’s easy to be generous when you have nothing to lose.” – Mary Crawley
22. “Sympathy butters no parsnips.” – Mrs. Patmore
23. “You are being tested. You know what they say, darling, being tested only makes you stronger.” – Cora Crawley
24. “An aristocrat with no servants is as much use to the country as a glass hammer.” – Violet Crawley
25. “Is this an instrument of communication or torture?” – Violet Crawley
26. “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.” – Mary Crawley
27. “I’m tougher than I look.” – Violet Crawley
28. “You’re American, you don’t understand these things.” – Mary Crawley,
29. “All this unbridled joy has given me quite an appetite.” – Violet Crawley
30. “A hollow existence in a large and drafty house with a man who bores her to death.” – Violet Crawley
31. “We must always travel in hope.” – Mr. Carson
32. “Yes, but you’re better than nothing.” – Violet Crawley
33. “I miss a lot of things, but you have to keep moving, don’t you. – John Bates
34. “I know several couples who are perfectly happy and they haven’t spoken in years.” – Violet Crawley
35. “I said I could drive the tractor.” – Edith Crawley
36. “Why did you apologize to that man? It’s not his business what we do.” – Duke of Crowborough
37. “I always apologize when I’m in the wrong. It’s a habit of mine.” – Mary Crawley
38. “I wonder you don’t just set fire to the abbey and dance round it.” – Violet Crawley
39. “Of course it would happen to a foreigner. No Englishman would dream of dying in someone else’s house.” – Violet Crawley
40. “Life is a game, where the player must appear ridiculous.” – Violet Crawley,
41. “Oh, dear, such a glare. I feel as if I were on stage at the Gaiety”. – Violet Crawley
42. “Do you think I might have a drink? Oh, I’m so sorry – I thought you were a waiter.” – Violet Crawley
43. “Vulgarity is no substitute for wit.” – Violet Crawley
44. “There is nothing more ill-bred than trying to steal the affections of one’s dog.”- Robert Crawley
45. “I agree – hope is a tease, designed to prevent us accepting reality” – Violet Crawley
46. “I hope your standards are not so high as to prevent you from remaining in my employment.” – Violet Crawley
47. “Seems a pity not to take a chance to end a quarrel. Isn’t it better than to let it fester?” – Isobel Crawley
48. “I hope you know that really smart people sleep in separate rooms.” – Mary Crawley
49. “I don’t dislike Matthew. In fact, I rather admire him.” – Cora Crawley
50. “Is that sufficient reason to give him your money? – Violet Crawley
51. “Well, of course not!” – Cora Crawley
52. “Then there’s nothing more to be said.” – Violet Crawley
53. “I’m a woman, Mary. I can be as contrary as I choose.”- Violet Crawley
54. “Nothing in life is sure.” – Mrs. Patmore
55. “Never complain, never explain.” – Violet Crawley
56. “Edith! You are a Lady. Not Toad of Toad Hall!” – Violet Crawley
57. “How you hate to be wrong.” – Isobel Crawley
58. “I wouldn’t know, I’m not familiar with the sensation.” – Violet Crawley
59. “All alone with plenty of money and a house in Eton Square. I can’t imagine anything better.” – Mary Crawley
60. “Good men. They’re not like buses. There won’t be another one round in 10 minutes.” – Anna
61. “Don’t you care about Downton?” – Violet Crawley
62. “I have given my life to Downton. I was born here, and I hope to die here. I claim no career beyond the nurture of this house and the estate. It’s my third parent and my fourth child.” – Robert Crawley
63. “Seems like a lot of food, when you think they’re all in mourning.” – Daisy Robinson
64. “Nothin’ makes you hungrier or more tired than grief. When my sister died, god rest her soul, I ate my way through four platefuls of sandwiches at one sitting and slept round the clock.” – Mrs. Patmore
65. “Did it make you feel better?” – Daisy Robinson
66. “Not much, but it passed the time.” – Mrs. Patmore
67. “In case you hadn’t noticed, she hasn’t been there for some time!” – Violet Crawley
68. “The nature of life is not permanence, but flux.” – Mr. Carson
69. “Edith has a date.” – Robert Crawley
70. “No I don’t.” – Edith Crawley
71. “Of course not.” – Mary Crawley
72. “What do you mean, ‘Of course not’?” – Edith Crawley
73. “We may have to have a maid in the dining room.” – Mr. Carson
74. “Cheer up, Carson. There are worse things happening in the world.” – Robert Crawley
75. “Not worse than a maid serving a duke.” – Mr. Carson
76. “Oh, it is you! I thought it was a man in your clothes.” – Violet Crawley
77. “How comforting it is that there really are a few good people left in the world.” -Edith Crawley
78. “It always seemed rather dark, when my mother-in-law lived here. But then, she made everything rather dark.” – Violet Crawley
79. “No guest should be admitted without the date of their departure settled.” – Violet Crawley
80. “I love him. I’d accept him in a trice if it weren’t for Marigold.” – Edith Crawley
81. “I can’t cook! I can’t lift. But it’s not difficult. I’ll talk you through it, don’t worry.” – Mrs. Hughes
82. “Who is the Sphinx?” – Sybbie Branson
83. “The Sphinx? A creature of secrets she never reveals.” – Robert Crawley
84. “Rather like Granny Violet.” – Cora Crawley
85. “But that is precisely what they already know. And do!” – Violet Crawley
86. “What simpletons men are.” – Violet Crawley
87. “Principles are like prayers; noble, of course, but awkward at a party.” – Violet Crawley
88. “So he slipped the hook.” – Edith Crawley
89. “At least I’m not fishing with no bait.” – Mary Crawley
90. “No life appears rewarding if you think too much about it.” – Violet Crawley
91. “Downton Abbey is the heart of this community. And you’re keeping it beating.” – Anna
92. “I’d rather have the right man than the right wedding.” – Anna
93. “First electricity, now telephones. Sometimes I feel as if I were living in an H.G. Wells novel.” – Violet Crawley
94. “War has a way of distinguishing between the things that matter and the things that don’t.” – Matthew Crawley
95. “Why would she want to leave me? I’ve been as gentle as a lamb…most of the time” – Violet Crawley
96. “Apparently, he’s bringing a friend with him, an attache at the Turkish Embassy, Mr. Kemal Pamuk. He’s the son of one of the Sultan’s ministers and he’s here for the Albanian talks.” – Cora Crawley
97. “To create an independent Albania. Don’t you read the papers?” – Edith Crawley
98. “I’m too busy living a life.” – Mary Crawley
99. “I hope in time I will come to be more merciful, but I doubt it”. – Cora Crawley
100. “What is a ‘weekend’?” – Violet Crawley
If you enjoyed reading these quotes from Downton Abbey, let us know which character you think has the best quotes!
Watch this drama-filled series on Netflix!
For the scoop on more quotes, check out these articles:
Love, Love, Love Downton Abbey & These Quotes: 1, 3, 4, 9, 12, 21, 23, 26, 27, 31, 33, 39, 43, 44, 53, 54, 55, 60, 77, 86, 92, 94, 98 & 99 🙌🏽🙌🏽
My favourite line was from Cora, when Robert was ranting about Bricker flirting with Isis, when he is more, more importantly, flirting with Cora. “Ok”, says Cora, “I’ll tell him to stop flirting”. Love it, but not easy to get across, out of context. Derek Jones.