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.

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

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 am seventeen. The good things about seventeen is that you’re not sixteen. Sixteen goes with the word sweet, and I am so far from sweet.

Beautiful is greater than Good for it includes the Good.

To love pleasure takes little. To love truly takes a hero who can manage his own fear.

My mom is painfully sweet; she's from Nebraska.

Property -- the more common it becomes the more holy it becomes.

And let it direct your passion with reason, that your passion may livethrough its own daily resurrection, and like the phoenix rise above its own ashes.

I have a brother who practiced every bit as much as I did, but he never made pro. In order to make it as a pro you have to develop your God-given skills.

These two criteria are like the pillars of true love: deeds, and the gift of self.

All Chess players should have a hobby