Those familiar with the show know that the Dowager Countess’ jokes were almost always accompanied by humor and no-nonsense wisdom. Her humor took on a poignant tone in the latest film, due out in 2022, especially in light of the recent news. Her character dies.

Surrounded by her loved ones, she jokes before the moment of her death: “Stop the noise, I can’t hear myself dying!”

Read on for some of the best lines from the Dowager Countess.

On society

“What is a weekend?”

“Don’t be defeatist, honey, it’s very middle class.”

“When you give these little people power, it always happens that it goes to their heads like liquor.”

About technology

“I couldn’t have electricity in the house, I wouldn’t sleep a wink. All those fumes floating around.”

When told that the swivel chair was invented by Thomas Jefferson: “Why is there a fight with an American every day?”

After problems with a telephone: “Is this a communication tool or torture?”

Classic zingers

Looking at Lavinia, Matthew Crawley’s fiancée: “So that’s Mary’s replacement. Well, I guess looks aren’t everything.”

In response to Sir Richard who said “I doubt whether we shall meet again”: “You promise?”

In response to Isobel Crawley who takes her observations as a compliment: “I must have said it wrong.”

To the English

“Last night! He looked so good. Of course it would happen to a foreigner. No Englishman would dream of dying in someone else’s house.

To Cora, on the subject of her American mother: ‘I’m so looking forward to seeing your mother again. When I am with her I am reminded of the virtues of the English.”

About manners

“An unhappy friend is tiresome enough, an unhappy acquaintance is intolerable.”

“I have plenty of friends I don’t like.”

‘I don’t hate him. I just don’t like him, and that’s a whole different thing.”

About love and marriage

“I’m not a romantic, but even I admit that the heart does not exist solely to pump blood.”

“I know several couples who are completely happy. I haven’t spoken in years.”

“My dear, love is a much more dangerous motive than aversion.”

About femininity

“Somehow, every woman walks down the aisle with half the story hidden.”

‘I’m a woman, Mary. I can be as contrary as I want.”

“A woman my age can face reality much better than most men.”

Life advice and reflections

“No guest should be admitted without the date of departure being fixed.”

‘Principles are like prayers; noble, of course, but clumsy at a party.”

“When tragedies strike, we try to find someone to blame. And when there is no suitable candidate, we usually blame ourselves. It’s not your fault. No one is to blame.”

“Sir Richard, life is a game in which the player must appear ridiculous.”

“No life seems worth living if you think about it too much.”

“All life is a series of problems that we must try to solve.”

“Does it ever get cold up there on the moral high ground?”