Maggie Smith's All-Time Greatest Downton Abbey Zingers
The Downton Abbey movie is finally here, and with the new film comes all of our favorite features of the beloved series: Lady Mary's enviable 1920s-era wardrobe, Mrs. Hughes and Daisy's usual antics in the kitchen, and of course, the wit and wisdom of Violet Crawley, Dowager Countess of Grantham.
The Dowager Countess is exquisitely brought to life by Academy Award winner and actual Dame Maggie Smith, who delivers each line with the charism and dry humor of a true legend.
As the eldest Crawley on Downton and the matriarch of the family, Smith's Dowager Countess never misses an opportunity to share her unvarnished opinion of what's happening at Downton. No character is immune to her wit—not even her beloved son Robert Crawley, or her granddaughters, Lady Mary and Lady Edith. Perhaps her most frequent sparring partner is Isobel Crawley, an extended member of the Crawley family who is seen contending with Violet in the clip above.
In honor of the Downton Abbey movie and the return of the Dowager Countess, we rounded up our favorite zingers of all time from the PBS Masterpiece Series and the new film below:
On life:
"Life is a game where the player must appear ridiculous."
On Machiavelli:
"Machiavelli is frequently underrated. He had many qualities."
On happiness:
"All this unbridled joy has given me quite an appetite."
On hope:
"Hope is a tease designed to prevent us accepting reality."
On wit:
"Vulgarity is no substitute for wit."
On ethics:
"Principles are like prayers: Noble of course, but awkward at a party."
On the modern invention of leisure time:
"What is a weekend?"
On advice:
"Don't be defeatist dear. It's very middle class."
On the malleability of truth:
"Lie is so unmusical a word."
On being a matriarch:
"It’s the job of grandmothers to interfere."
On aging:
"At my age, one must ration one’s excitement."
Want to catch up on the show? Downton Abbey is available to stream on Amazon, or, if you'd prefer, the series is also available to purchase on DVD or Blu-ray. The Downton Abbey movie arrived in on September 20 in the U.S. GET TICKETS NOW
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