My love affair with Downton Abbey began during the Patriots/Broncos NFL playoffs game in January of this year. Our friends introduced us and so smitten were we that we moved back and forth between the first episode and the massacre that was the football game.
It took ten minutes of Thomas’s scowl, O’Brien’s bitterness and caustic tongue, Mary’s arrogance, and Anna’s integrity to fall in love. But what sealed the deal was Violet the Dowager, Countess of Grantham (called Lady Grantham by most) played by the legendary Maggie Smith. She commanded every scene she was in and had more “quotable quotes” in one episode than most American TV shows have in an entire year.
As the football went down the field, usually in the hands of the Patriots, Downton Abbey entered our lives with its upstairs/downstairs story line and quotes that beg for memorization.
So here are some of my favorites, gleaned not only from the memorable night when the show came into our lives, but from all the episodes that have charmed us since that time.
Mrs Crawley: “What should we call each other?”
Lady Grantham: “Well, we could always start with Mrs Crawley and Lady Grantham.”
Cora: “Are we to be friends then?”
Lady Grantham: “We are allies, my dear, which can be a good deal more effective.”
Lady Grantham: “It always happens. When you give these little people power it goes to their heads like strong drink!”
“Why does everyday involve a fight with an American?”
“Sometimes I feel as if I were living in an H.G. Wells novel.”
Lady Grantham: “Oh my dears. Is it really true? I can’t believe it. Last night he looked so well. Of course it would happen to a foreigner. It’s typical.”
Lady Mary: “Don’t be ridiculous.”
Lady Grantham: “I’m not being ridiculous. No Englishman would dream of dying in someone else’s house – especially somebody they didn’t even know.”
Lady Mary: “Sybil is entitled to her opinions.”
Lady Grantham: “No. She isn’t until she is married, then her husband will tell her what her opinions are.”
There are so many more, but I’ll let the YouTube video give you true entertainment and end with my favorite:
“Don’t be so defeatist, dear! It’s very middle class!”
For those of you who haven’t yet had the pleasure of falling in love with this show, I hope after reading you are interested in at least a dinner date. I guarantee you’ll want more! Happy Friday and to repeat the Dowager’s words: “What is a weekEND?”
Marilyn R. Gardner 