A Collection of the Cleverly Cutting Quips Uttered by the Dowager Countess on Downton Abbey

Slate Video has compiled a wonderful collection of the cleverly cutting quips that have been uttered by Lady Violet Crawley, Dowager Countess of Grantham (Dame Maggie Smith) throughout the course of the entire Downton Abbey series. While the Dowager Countess says it like it is, it's her rather stoic, proper British upper class delivery that really drives it home.

What will we do without the dowager countess, Crowley family matriarch and side-eye royal? In particular, how will we do without her burns? As delivered by Maggie Smith, who won back-to-back Emmys for the role, the dowager's insults represented the id of a fading English upper class. They were also some of the funniest on TV. In tribute, Slate collected her finest one-line barbs, laid on family members, guests of the estate, and, sometimes, even on herself.