Violet Crawley quotes from Downton Abbey

Lady Mary Crawley

How are you, Spratt? Well, I hope.

Everyone has their troubles, m'lady.

Lady Mary Crawley

Oh, dear.

Spratt has been helping to train my new maid, Denker.

I'd say she takes after the dachshund, m'lady.

Lady Mary Crawley

In what way?

She's quite untrainable.

[disapproving] Spratt.

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.

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?

[soft] No. But that is not the reason.

Lady Mary Crawley

Then what is?

Well, if you must know, I've 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.

You have your own lives and so you should. But Isobel and I had a lot in common [wistful] and I shall miss that.

I don't know why you're making such a fuss, Mama. You'd visit Denker if she were locked up.

Only to check if the locks were sound.

It's very kind of you to let Henry and me push in to a family party.

In return, please don't let Mama pull you into the fight [over the hospital].

Really, Robert. You paint me as such a schemer.

No one has sharper eyes than a loving son.

You read that somewhere.

Why do you never think I can make something up?

Isobel Crawley

The treatments available to the village would be vastly superior to anything we can lay claim to now.

You are making a grave mistake and impoverishing the village by doing so. Prudence, tell them.

I expect there's a good deal to be said on both sides.

Don't be so feeble.

How can I present myself as an expert when I don't know the facts?

It's never stopped me.

Lady Edith Crawley

I suppose cousin Isobel is entitled to put up an argument.

[very upset] Of course she is! She's just not entitled to win it!

Don't reprimand me, Mama. I think the new system will be better, and I haven't got time to be diplomatic.

Don't you think I have enough things to worry about?

It's better we should be honest. There've been too many secrets. Let's have no more of them.

If you mean Marigold, that's settled, and you know I am sorry, now let us concentrate on Robert.

Isobel Crawley

Even Elizabeth Bennet wanted to see what Pemberley was like inside.

A decision that caused her a great deal of embarrassment, if I remember the novel correctly.

Lady Mary Crawley

Ah, Granny. I'm glad you're here. What else can I tell them about the library?

The library was assembled by the fourth earl. He loved books.

Lady Mary Crawley

What else did he collect?

Horses and women.

Isobel Crawley

But what can I do? I can hardly push my way past the servants and run upstairs to his bedroom.

I don't see why not. As my late father used to say, "If reason fails, try force."

Lady Rosamund Painswick

What do you think makes the English the way we are?

Opinions differ. Some say our history. But I blame the weather.

Makes me smile, the way every year we drink to the future, - whatever it may bring.

Well, what else could we drink to? We're going forward to the future, not back into the past.

If only we had the choice!