I don't get recognized all the time, but it tends to happen more in America, and people are so lovely when they do.

If Shakespeare was around today I would ask him out to dinner. The only thing I don't like about him is the way he did his hair.

I think some period drama can be quite alienating, but 'Downton' isn't. This is going to sound quite, um, pretentious, but someone said that it's like a soap written by a poet.

Cooking can cure almost anything.

I come from a very working-class background, so my family would have been downstairs in the past, as opposed to upstairs. People are often quite surprised to hear that, that I'm not actually posh.

I think the first time I realised Downton Abbey was a hit was when I was sitting in a tea shop in New York and the couple next to me were talking about Downton Abbey, and then they recognised me.

I had dance training from a very young age, 3 or 4... It taught me how to present myself, about preparation and working in an ensemble, and its something that carries with me to this day.

I love discovering tiny streets.

I don't mind wearing a corset; it informs your posture, changes the way you move, you can't slouch.

I love cycling, but if I could find a way of building something above the streets for cyclists, that would be amazing. We need even more space.

I get so excited about reading a new script.

I think music is what language once aspired to be. Music allows us to face God on our own terms because it reaches beyond life.

My first addiction was to books. -B. Chelsea Adams

23. With God, even when nothing is happening...something is happening.

The most influential of all educational factors is the conversation in a child's home.

It takes two sides to make a deal, two sides to negotiate and two sides to make it go bad.

Do what nobody else can do for you. Omit to do anything else.

She had made him possible. In that sense she was his god. Like God, she was neglected.

Get up from that piano. You hurtin' its feelings.

Some people spend their lives failing and never notice.

My music is like a spinning ball. It can turn in one direction, and then it comes back to origins.