HBO's The Gilded Age Quotes (Seasons 1-2)

The Gilded Age Season 2 Quotes

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1. You Don’t Even Like Opera

'Nothing stays the same forever.' - Bertha Russell (The Gilded Age) Click To Tweet

Agnes Van Rhijn: All my life, I’ve walked to church on Easter morning. Why should I stop now?
Ada Brook: Because we’re getting older.
Agnes Van Rhijn: You may be getting older. I am not.

Bertha Russell: [to George] Nothing will take my mind off that “other business”, as you call it. As long as we have no box at the Academy, we are not in the front rank of society, whatever we may pretend.

'I'd like to go where I'm valued, where people are friendly.' - Bertha Russell (The Gilded Age) Click To Tweet

Watson: Après vous, monsieur. Or should I say, “You first, mister”?
Baudin: It does not offend me that I am a source of humor to you all. I confess, I would like to know how long it must go on.
Church: Until it stops making us smile.

Mrs. Bruce: Mr. Gordon pretended to be French to get a job. Is that a crime?
Church: Not a crime, but quite a good joke.
Mrs. Bruce: If the mistress can accept that her chef is from Kansas, surely we can.
Church: If she admits it at all, I bet it’s through gritted teeth.
Watson: Or should we say, “par les dents serrées”?

'Every now and then, I wonder if it isn't good to shout a little and let off steam.' - Ada Brook (The Gilded Age) Click To Tweet

Agnes Van Rhijn: [to Ada] Were you on first name terms? We weren’t, and I was his wife.

Marian Brook: That was a lovely sermon.
Reverend Matthew Forte: I hope so. Half the battle is not to put the congregation to sleep.

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Ada Brook: May we hear who is to be married?
Reverend Matthew Forte: Miss Bingham and Mr. Raikes. Do you know them, by any chance?
Agnes Van Rhijn: No.
Ada Brook: A little.
Oscar Van Rhijn: Not really.
Marian Brook: Yes.

Peggy Scott: Don’t be too nice to me. I’d have taken him away. I’d have fought the adoption, and I would have taken him with me if I could.
Mr. Spring: I wish you had. It might have saved him if you’d gotten him out of the city before the fever came.
Arthur Scott: Don’t say that. Or we’ll all go mad.

Agnes Van Rhijn: Don’t you ever get tired of that wretched tapestry? You’re like Penelope waiting for Odysseus to get home.
Marian Brook: Aunt Ada likes needlework.
Agnes Van Rhijn: I like ice cream. That doesn’t mean I eat it twenty-four hours a day.

Marian Brook: [referring to Raikes] I did love him.
Ada Brook: I’m glad you used the past tense. It helps to accept that a thing is finished and done with.
Marian Brook: The question is, what’s next?
Ada Brook: The right man will come along.
Marian Brook: But I don’t just want a husband, Aunt Ada. And anyway, who says he’ll come along? He doesn’t always.
Ada Brook: That’s true. He never came for me. But I was very shy when I was your age, with so much less to offer. It would have taken someone rare to look inside my shell.
Marian Brook: If he didn’t, it was his loss.

Ward McAllister: You conquered New York. Now it’s time to conquer Newport.
Bertha Russell: But I haven’t conquered New York.
Ward McAllister: What? You go everywhere. You dine in the best houses. You have a pew opposite the Astors at St. Thomas.
Bertha Russell: But I haven’t got a box at the opera. The Academy has turned us down again.
Ward McAllister: They can be very trying.
Bertha Russell: Mrs. Astor can be very trying.

Bertha Russell: Do you think the new Metropolitan Opera will succeed?
Ward McAllister: The members of the Academy are very determined it should not. And if you jump that way, you’ll never take Mrs. Astor with you. My advice would be to stick with her. She’ll get you into the Academy in the end.
Bertha Russell: I’m not much good at “in the end”. Besides, nothing stays the same forever, and I can’t always be at Mrs. Astor’s beck and call.
Ward McAllister: Why not? I am.

Dorothy Scott: I always felt so safe with Arthur. Sleep in a man’s arms for years, and you think you know him, but…

John Adams: I have no desire to lock who I am in a box and throw away the key. I don’t think I could anyway.
Oscar Van Rhijn: And what will your life be?
John Adams: Friendship, companionship, perhaps something more if I can learn to live with a little discretion.
Oscar Van Rhijn: Still a life of lies.
John Adams: But I won’t be lying to myself.

Oscar Van Rhijn: Don’t hate me.
John Adams: I will never hate you.

Mrs. Astor: Mrs. Russell, you must know how very proud I am of your success in New York.
Bertha Russell: That’s generous.
Mrs. Astor: I mean it. You worked to be accepted. And I do hope that I was a help. You wouldn’t want to throw that all away and find yourself back where you started, out on your ear.
Bertha Russell: I suppose I’d like to go where I’m valued, where people are friendly.
Mrs. Astor: Well, the audience at the new opera house will be easy to meet. But you’ll find that they are hard to get rid of.

Mrs. Astor: I wouldn’t like to see you pay the price for backing the losing side.
Bertha Russell: Well, you’re right about one thing, Mrs. Astor. I certainly intend to find myself on the winning side.

Arthur Scott: Alright. You want me to say it? I was wrong. I thought I was right, but I was wrong. We should have kept the boy. There. Are you satisfied?
Dorothy Scott: How can I be satisfied? My grandson is dead.

Peggy Scott: Even if you are sorry, and I do believe that you are, it doesn’t change anything.
Arthur Scott: So you’ll hate me all your life?
Peggy Scott: I don’t hate you. Look, we need a rest from each other. We have been trapped in this trio of regret for too long.

Marian Brook: Don’t tell me you’re still pining for Gladys Russell.
Oscar Van Rhijn: I suppose she’s now the cynosure of all eyes.
Marian Brook: Of course. She’s pretty. She’s rich. She’s out in society. And this is New York.

Peggy Scott: So have you told your aunts your secret yet?
Marian Brook: No, but I will.
Peggy Scott: When?
Marian Brook: When I can’t keep it secret any longer.

George Russell: I wish I could understand the whole thing. You don’t even like opera. Not so I’ve ever noticed.
Bertha Russell: George, the opera is where society puts itself on display. Not just in New York, but all over Europe. And the leaders take boxes where they meet each other, and their children court each other, and that is how the wheels of society turn.

George Russell: If you decide to back the Met, you know you’ll be taking on Mrs. Astor.
Bertha Russell: And?
George Russell: Of course I love that you’re not afraid of her.
Bertha Russell: I’m glad to be her friend, George, but not her lackey.

Agnes Van Rhijn: We’ll all go, and Marian can meet some more suitable young people.
Marian Brook: Although I’m never sure that your definition of suitable is quite the same as mine.
Agnes Van Rhijn: If it isn’t, it should be.

Watson: But do you really think that she’ll side with the new Metropolitan?
Mrs. Bruce: It’s beginning to look like it.
Watson: Won’t Mrs. Astor kick up a stink?
Mrs. Bruce: Mrs. Russell doesn’t lack courage.

Jack Treacher: Why can’t Europe be like America?
Bannister: Because Europe is nothing like America.

Agnes Van Rhijn: [after she finds out about Marian’s teaching job] So your contempt for us both was at least consistent.
Marian Brook: I don’t have contempt for anyone. And it doesn’t seem to bother Cousin Dashiell that I teach at his daughter’s school, or Aurora.
Agnes Van Rhijn: They feel sorry for you. That’s all.
Marian Brook: You’re wrong. Not everyone is as cruel and mean-spirited as you.
Agnes Van Rhijn: Oh?
Ada Brook: Marian!
Agnes Van Rhijn: Is it cruel to mind it when you stamp on our name and drag it in the mud? Now, get out of my way!

Bannister: Is everything alright, Miss Ada?
Ada Brook: Yes, Bannister.
Bannister: Only I heard shouting, which is unusual in this house.
Ada Brook: It was unusual, yes. But every now and then, I wonder if it isn’t good to shout a little and let off steam.

Mrs. Astor: Have you combed the city for the disenchanted rich who couldn’t get a box at the Academy?
Bertha Russell: Oh, Mrs. Astor. The Academy Board may think they can keep out the new people with impunity, but you’re clever enough to know they’re wrong. While the Metropolitan would welcome the old guard if they want to come. Why not take a box in both houses and see how it plays out?
Mrs. Astor: Perhaps you do not value loyalty. I am different. I should scold you, Mrs. Fish, but I know that you’re just playing with matches, as you like to do.

George Russell: I begin to grasp your plan. And you seem to have won the first battle.
Bertha Russell: I intend to win the war.

2. Some Sort of Trick

'You mustn't be afraid to fail, or you'll never succeed.' - Marian Brook (The Gilded Age) Click To Tweet

Gladys Russell: There’s something I need to have settled before I can leave New York. Of course, that sounds overdramatic, but it won’t wait until the end of the summer. This will affect the rest of my life.
George Russell: How grave you make it sound.
Gladys Russell: Naturally you want to make a joke of it, but I can’t.

Gladys Russell: I must be allowed the freedom to make my own decisions.
George Russell: Marriage is not the place to look for freedom.

'It is sometimes possible to forgive. But one cannot forget.' - Bannister (The Gilded Age) Click To Tweet

George Russell: [to Gladys] Of one thing I am sure. You can do better than Mr. Oscar Van Rhijn.

Agnes Van Rhijn: Is everyone part of this conspiracy?
Marian Brook: I’m doing a perfectly decent job. You won’t need to be ashamed of me.
Agnes Van Rhijn: I’m ashamed of you now.

'Marriage is not the place to look for freedom.' - George Russell (The Gilded Age) Click To Tweet

Marian Brook: Aunt Agnes is rather cross with me, but not with you.
Dashiell Montgomery: Even so, you’re the only person in New York who stands up to her. She must find it a novel sensation.

George Russell: [to Oscar] I understand these marriages of convenience take place in every fashionable church in this city, but I want more than that for my child.

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Ward McAllister: By the way, I’ve had an idea which could be useful for you in the opera war.
George Russell: You better not tell Mrs. Astor.
Ward McAllister: Dear lady, I am only sharing information.
George Russell: And you’d better not tell Mrs. Astor about it.

Agnes Van Rhijn: Ada, you are the parishioner here, not the rector. It is not for you to dispense blessings.
Reverend Matthew Forte: But I am happy to accept it.

Marian Brook: I liked your rector.
Ada Brook: Oh, he’s not my rector. But I’m glad you like him.
Agnes Van Rhijn: I would have enjoyed it more if I could have got a word in edgewise.
Marian Brook: Oh, Aunt Agnes!
Agnes Van Rhijn: I mean it. What came over you? Had you taken chatter pills?
Ada Brook: He was so pleasant and interesting.
Agnes Van Rhijn: Hardened criminals have answered fewer questions in the dock. I wonder you didn’t ask to see his mother’s death certificate.

Richard Clay: As you said yourself to the others, we must never surrender to threats. To yield is to lose.
George Russell: I have no intention of yielding. But doing nothing is no longer an option.

Richard Clay: [referring to Henderson] You mean I should offer him money?
George Russell: Money or a little power. Power is very seductive, I’m told.
Richard Clay: Suppose he’s a man of principle.
George Russell: It’ll just make him more expensive.

Agnes Van Rhijn: But before you go, I do have some news.
Armstrong: Oh, yes, madam?
Agnes Van Rhijn: Miss Scott will be returning.
Armstrong: Here?
Agnes Van Rhijn: No, to Timbuktu. Of course here.

Agnes Van Rhijn: You will only treat Miss Scott with courtesy and respect.
Armstrong: But what if she’s unkind to me?
Agnes Van Rhijn: Then knowing Miss Scott, I’d say you had it coming.

Agnes Van Rhijn: Your fate is in your hands. If you show kindness to Miss Scott, then you may keep your position.
Armstrong: But, ma’am…
Agnes Van Rhijn: I see you have mistaken this for a discussion, when I am simply giving an order.

Agnes Van Rhijn: Mr. Morgan sounds perfect.
Ada Brook: Really, Agnes, why don’t you just run up to Fifth Avenue and stop any carriage that has a man inside?
Agnes Van Rhijn: If I did, I doubt I would know his mother.

Gladys Russell: How do you manage your aunt so easily?
Marian Brook: Aunt Agnes only approved this trip because Cousin Aurora is trying to match me with a man.
Gladys Russell: What’s he like?
Marian Brook: Dreadful, I’m afraid.
Gladys Russell: Perhaps we should escape in that direction.

Marian Brook: My orders are simple. I’m to find a man with birth, position, and money.
Gladys Russell: What about looks?
Marian Brook: I think that’s up to me. But they are not a top priority.

Aurora Fane: It’s often hard to tell who people really are. I was always warned never to take a soldier as a suitor until I’d met him out of uniform.
Oscar Van Rhijn: I’d say Mr. Morgan will be only too happy to get out of his uniform.

Edward Morgan: I thought Miss Brook and I were to get to know each other.
Dashiell Montgomery: I’ll have her back in a moment.
Marian Brook: [as they’re walking away] I hope you won’t.
Dashiell Montgomery: I know lots of places to hide.

Bannister: [referring to Church’s letter] It almost cost me my job.
Church: As I say, it was stupid. And I apologize unreservedly. But can we put it behind us?
Bannister: Forgive and forget, you mean? Yes, I always wonder about that phrase. It is, I agree, sometimes possible to forgive. But one cannot forget.
Church: Well, I hope we can live in peace.
Bannister: I’ll bear that in mind, Mr. Church.

Larry Russell: Susan Blane appeals to me mostly because she’s quite unlike those suitable young ladies. And I’m fairly certain you don’t want me to elaborate on that.
Bertha Russell: Other young men deal with these things without causing comment.
Larry Russell: Yes, they go to prostitutes. Would you prefer me to do the same?
Bertha Russell: I prefer there to be no scandal.

Larry Russell: Haven’t you always said that all you want is my happiness?
Bertha Russell: Not at the expense of your good name.

George Russell: I need your help. Will you do that for me?
Bertha Russell: I’ll do anything for you. Surely you know that by now.

Peggy Scott: I have no quarrel with you, Miss Armstrong. I mean it. But I promise you do not want one with me.

Ward McAllister: [referring to the opera war] So the war is heating up. This needs some thought.
Bertha Russell: Why? Are you afraid to be seen with the leader of the winning side?
Ward McAllister: Don’t be too sure. There’s still plenty of fight left in Mrs. Astor.
Bertha Russell: Then we’re evenly matched, and you’ll need to pick a team.
Ward McAllister: Not necessarily. If Mrs. Astor wins, then I will have been loyal all along.
Bertha Russell: And if I win?
Ward McAllister: Then I will be the friend to help Mrs. Astor accept defeat.
Bertha Russell: Clever. But will you help me?
Ward McAllister: In my way.

Oscar Van Rhijn: But I wonder why our paths have never crossed till now.
Maud Beaton: Probably because I’ve been living in Europe, in Paris mostly.
Oscar Van Rhijn: Ah. How was that?
Maud Beaton: Well, Paris is wonderful, apart from the Parisians.
Oscar Van Rhijn: We can agree on that at least.

Gladys Russell: Your former lady’s maid is now your neighbor in Newport?
Larry Russell: Welcome to America. Father, you’re very quiet.
George Russell: What is there to say?
Bertha Russell: Nothing until we’re alone and back at the house. And I’ll decide what we say, if we say anything at all.

3. Head to Head

George Russell: McAllister is playing a complicated game. I’d like to be there when Mrs. Astor finds out.
Bertha Russell: It’s about to get more complicated than he knows.

George Russell: [referring to Turner] And you don’t object to courting your former servant?
Bertha Russell: I can’t afford to object, even if it sticks in my craw.
George Russell: But can she be trusted?
Bertha Russell: She won’t want anyone to know she was once a lady’s maid. I have the upper hand where that’s concerned.

'Interesting is a weasel word, and generally used to avoid giving a real opinion.' - Oscar Wilde (The Gilded Age) Click To Tweet

Ada Brook: There is quite a bustle of arrivals.
Agnes Van Rhijn: You mean of people?
Ada Brook: Yes, people.
Agnes Van Rhijn: Well, with the Russells, one cannot be certain. I wouldn’t be surprised if they hired Barnum & Bailey’s Circus to perform in the hall.
Ada Brook: It looks like it’s mostly women, so probably not the circus.
Agnes Van Rhijn: I’d like to see the guest list before I reach any conclusions.

Ada Brook: I’d like to invite the new rector for luncheon.
Agnes Van Rhijn: We have to listen to him drone on all Sunday morning. Can the Lord really want more from us than that?

Baudin: Wake up. This is America. You can be anything you want. I should know.

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Mamie Fish: So the two opera houses are to go head to head?
Bertha Russell: That’s it. Head to head. And one will be the winner.

Agnes Van Rhijn: [referring to Maud Beaton] Is there any money?
Ada Brook: Really, Agnes. Isn’t it a little soon for that?
Agnes Van Rhijn: Well, we’re all family here. And I think we know Oscar’s priorities.
Aurora Fane: I believe there’s a great deal.
Agnes Van Rhijn: Well, then, she meets the requirements.
Ada Brook: I should leave it to Oscar to decide.
Agnes Van Rhijn: Have you ever known me to do that?

Ward McAllister: Are you sure it’s wise to open on the same night as the Academy? Aren’t you asking for trouble?
Bertha Russell: I’m asking for something.
Ward McAllister: I was hoping to go to both.
Bertha Russell: And now you’ll have to choose.

Mrs. Astor: I confess that Mrs. Russell is even more of a fighter than I had realized.
Agnes Van Rhijn: You mean you thought she would not fight against you.
Mrs. Astor: No. Not so bitterly, at any rate. After all, didn’t I make her what she is today?
Agnes Van Rhijn: Gratitude is not a natural instinct in that class.

Turner: If you make trouble for me, I will respond in kind.
Bertha Russell: I don’t understand.
Turner: If I were you, I would discuss it with George before you decide to stir things up.
Bertha Russell: George? You mean Mr. Russell.

Baudin: So, Miss Turner is now a great lady in New York.
Adelheid Weber: It makes you think. If she can do it, anyone can.
Watson: I wonder how she managed it.
Peter Barnes: How do you think? She saw what she wanted, and she went for it.

Peggy Scott: When were you last in the South?
T. Thomas Fortune: Not for many years. And when I lived there, I was a slave.
Peggy Scott: Oh. I see.
T. Thomas Fortune: No, you don’t. Because you can’t. But somehow, I have to put that behind me.

Susan Blane: I mean to have a lot of fun this summer, and to pay no price for it. My motto has always been to have my cake and eat it.

George Russell: But I would never betray you.
Bertha Russell: You already have.

Bertha Russell: So you allowed me to be waited on, to have my hair arranged, my clothes chosen, my bath run by a woman who had been naked with my husband? It’s disgusting!
George Russell: I’m sorry if it was a bad decision.
Bertha Russell: Decision? I call that betrayal!

Robert McNeil: I am a banker, my wife is a hostess, and her father is a valet. It seems to me that we are in a pretty kettle of fish.

George Russell: Bertha, my business doesn’t stop when we fall out. You’re being jejune. You know nothing happened. Am I really to be held responsible for Turner’s actions?
Bertha Russell: You’re responsible for your own inaction.

George Russell: [to Bertha] If it interests you, I do know that I made a mistake. A misjudgment. An error. But I do not know what else I can say on the subject.

Reverend Matthew Forte: And it is kindness that does the most good in the world.

George Russell: Life is a dangerous business, Mr. Henderson.

Church: All unions do is make everything worse than it was before.
Watson: I’m not sure that’s quite the whole picture, Mr. Church.
Baudin: What if they started a servants union? Would you join it?
Church: I’d rather be struck dead by lightning.
Mrs. Bruce: I take it that’s a no.

George Russell: How long will it be like this?
Bertha Russell: I don’t know, George. Betrayal is not like a case of influenza.
George Russell: No, it feels more like a death sentence. Won’t you allow me to make things up to you?

Maud Beaton: [as they’re watching Oscar Wilde’s play] You’d better think of something to praise when we meet the playwright later.
Oscar Van Rhijn: That’s rather testing. I wonder why he thinks he can write.
Maud Beaton: He does know how to talk. I met him at a dinner when he was here last year, and I was in stitches.
Oscar Van Rhijn: He may be witty, but clearly he hasn’t learned how to harness it.
Maud Beaton: I’m not sure that’s the compliment we’re looking for.

Oscar Wilde: We Oscars must stick together.
Oscar Van Rhijn: How do you find America?
Oscar Wilde: Well, I can manage almost everything but the food and the wallpaper.

Oscar Van Rhijn: Were you pleased with how the play went?
Oscar Wilde: An audience is seldom pleasing. It’s a bonus if they don’t disappoint. But what’s your verdict?
Oscar Van Rhijn: It was interesting.
Oscar Wilde: Interesting is a weasel word, and generally used to avoid giving a real opinion.

Oscar Wilde: I hope you enjoyed the play, Miss Russell.
Gladys Russell: Is “enjoy” the right word when a tsar is murdered, and the evening ends with the heroine stabbing herself?
Oscar Wilde: Oh! So young, and already a critic.

Oscar Wilde: Well, it seems we’re in a room full of young heiresses. Which is your cousin sounding out?
Aurora Fane: I shouldn’t admit it, but of course you’re right. He has his eye on Miss Beaton now.
Oscar Wilde: And the young man with him?
Aurora Fane: John Adams. He’s an old friend of Oscar’s.
Oscar Wilde: Is he, indeed? Yes, I can see that getting rather complicated.
Aurora Fane: I don’t know what you mean.
Oscar Wilde: Nor should you. You’re far too well brought up.

Oscar Wilde: It has been my experience that you are proud of many things that would not translate to the old world.
Maud Beaton: But is the old world better?
Oscar Wilde: Not better, exactly. Just more tested by time.

Reverend Matthew Forte: Let’s just say some of God’s children can be very tiresome.
Ada Brook: Are you allowed to say that?
Reverend Matthew Forte: Can’t I, to you?
Ada Brook: Of course you can. We’re friends.

Ada Brook: Oh, my sister. Pleasing her can be little short of a miracle.
Reverend Matthew Forte: Well, I’m in the miracle business.

Dorothy Scott: [referring to Peggy going to the South] But you don’t seem to understand that once you cross that line, you are no longer human.

Peggy Scott: I need to show the world that there are young colored people really making something of their lives. It gives me a purpose.

Bertha Russell: I want to put Turner’s nose out of joint. You have to trust me.
George Russell: I do trust you. More than you trust me, I think.
Bertha Russell: Then prove it.

Henderson: Mr. Russell is not a weak man, and there’s no point pretending otherwise.

4. His Grace the Duke

Jack Treacher: [referring to Ada] I think she likes the rector.
Mrs. Bauer: Oh, she likes him very much. And she’s earned a bit of happiness.

Oscar Van Rhijn: I gladly support good causes from the comfort of Fifth Avenue.

Marian Brook: It’s nice to see all the girls and their families.
Frances Montgomery: And now, here we are, the three of us. Because we make a rather neat little family too now, don’t we?
Dashiell Montgomery: You mustn’t frighten Miss Brook.
Frances Montgomery: You’re not frightened, are you?
Marian Brook: Of course not.

'If the only gain in our fight for independence was to dispense with British titles, then it was surely worth it.' - George Russell (The Gilded Age) Click To Tweet

Susan Blane: You are a bachelor sowing your wild oats. You have nothing to lose.
Larry Russell: You worry too much. No one cares.
Susan Blane: People care.

Larry Russell: And for what it’s worth, I’m not sowing any wild oats. Because I love you.
Susan Blane: And I’m very much afraid that I love you, Mr. Russell. Which was not part of the original plan.

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Bertha Russell: Is that all I’m good for? Running around with a blanket to put out the fires? Trying to make sure Larry stays out of trouble, making sure Gladys meets the right people. I cover all your backs, but who’s covering mine?
George Russell: I hope I am. That’s what I mean to do. For me, no one living is more important than you.
Bertha Russell: I know.

Bertha Russell: I’m going to talk to Mrs. Blane.
George Russell: And what will you say?
Bertha Russell: Only the truth. It’s usually for the best.

Reverend Matthew Forte: You hate peonies.
Ada Brook: No. Why would you say that?
Reverend Matthew Forte: I’ve not given flowers to many women, but I don’t think you should be worried.
Ada Brook: They’re lovely. But I admit, I do wonder what Agnes will think.
Reverend Matthew Forte: Those flowers are for you, Ada Brook. No one else.

Bertha Russell: [referring to Larry] What is it that you want from him? You can’t give him an heir. In twenty years, when he is in his prime, you’ll be walking with a stick. Even if he feels too guilty to leave, part of him will be waiting for you to die. You must remember what that was like when you were married to your husband.
Susan Blane: How dare you say such things?
Bertha Russell: I dare because they’re true.

Agnes Van Rhijn: Marian thinks you are engaged in a full-blown flirtation.
Marian Brook: What?
Ada Brook: You mean with the Reverend, Mr. Forte?
Agnes Van Rhijn: Why, are there others?
Ada Brook: Of course not.

Agnes Van Rhijn: It would seem a poor return after all these years if you were to desert me now.
Ada Brook: Agnes, what has got into you?
Agnes Van Rhijn: So Mr. Forte is nothing?
Ada Brook: He is an extremely nice man, and I like him very much. That is all I feel for him, and I am quite sure it is all he feels for me.
Agnes Van Rhijn: But if it were more?
Ada Brook: If ifs and ands were pots and pans, there’d be no need for tinkers.
Agnes Van Rhijn: I’m serious.
Ada Brook: I refuse to be serious about this subject.

Agnes Van Rhijn: What on Earth is that noise?
Jack Treacher: I think it may be my clock alarm.
Agnes Van Rhijn: Telling you what? That it’s time to clear the plates?

Butler: Excuse me, sir, I believe your wife is at the wrong chair.
George Russell: You’re mistaken. Mrs. Russell is exactly where she should be.

Oscar Van Rhijn: I hoped we’d meet again, but I never thought it would be like this.
Turner: Life is full of surprises.
Oscar Van Rhijn: I’m sorry if you’re disappointed to find yourself next to me.
Turner: It’s not that exactly. But I was told my place was… Oh, never mind. We’re here now.
Oscar Van Rhijn: We are. And you have till the next course to describe your ascension. How did you do it? I long to hear.

Bertha Russell: Is something the matter?
The Duke of Buckingham: It’s the way the Americans lay a table. I can’t get used to it. Does that make me sound provincial?
Bertha Russell: I’m sorry they didn’t get it right. If I were hosting the dinner, I can promise you I would.
The Duke of Buckingham: Is that an invitation, Mrs. Russell?
Bertha Russell: Oh, let’s see how tonight goes.

Peggy Scott: Our lives aren’t so different. Things may be worse in the South, but even in New York, we enter through the back door.

T. Thomas Fortune: You were a slave and so was I. How do you make peace with people who bought and sold us? Who branded us like cattle, whipped us on Saturday, then sat in church on Sunday without a morsel of shame?
Mrs. Washington: Some may keep silent, Mr. Fortune, because they tried your way, and they got killed for their trouble. I don’t mean to scare you, Miss Scott.
Peggy Scott: You’re only telling the truth.

Peggy Scott: Can’t you see that you both want the same things? It’s only your methods that differ.
T. Thomas Fortune: I just know I’m unwilling to make nice with people who’d lynch at will.

T. Thomas Fortune: New Yorkers like to look at animals, but they don’t touch them much.
David: Would you like me to teach you to milk her?
Peggy Scott: Oh, I don’t think so. We’re only here to write an article.
T. Thomas Fortune: Go for it, Miss Scott. When are you ever going to get another chance? Certainly not on 61st Street.

Oscar Van Rhijn: It was my boyhood dream.
Maud Beaton: To be a Duke?
Oscar Van Rhijn: More that I wanted to be king.
Maud Beaton: Of any particular country?
Oscar Van Rhijn: I hadn’t worked out the details. I was eight.

George Russell: Why must I be the villain in every story? I employ thousands of men. I have lifted whole towns out of poverty. And yet I’m the tyrant who crushes the faces of the poor.

Susan Blane: [as she’s trying to breakup with him] Please, Larry, you’re making this more difficult than it needs to be.
Larry Russell: I think it needs to be damned difficult.

Susan Blane: There’s nothing to be done. We had a fling. And we enjoyed it. At least I did. Now, it’s time for us to move on with our lives.
Larry Russell: Here I was thinking we had a future. But, no.
Susan Blane: Goodbye, Larry. Look after yourself, and please try to be kind when you think of me.

Reverend Matthew Forte: Will you marry me, Miss Ada Brook?
Ada Brook: Yes. Yes, Mr. Luke Forte. Yes, I will.

George Russell: You’ve never said if you liked him.
Bertha Russell: To be honest, it doesn’t take much to make a Duke likeable. But, yes, I like him. He’s young, unstuffy, and more polite than I expected.

George Russell: And what will Mrs. Winterton make of all this? Or don’t you care?
Bertha Russell: Should I care about the feelings of a former lady’s maid who attempted to seduce my husband?
George Russell: May I find hope in your use of the word “attempted”?
Bertha Russell: It was never her claim that hurt me but your silence.
George Russell: Will you forgive me now?
Bertha Russell: If I do, enjoy it. There will be no more forgiveness if you hide any such thing from me again.

George Russell: [as they’re embracing] I’ve missed you, my darling. You can’t know how much.
Bertha Russell: I haven’t been anywhere.
George Russell: Oh, yes you have.

Turner: He is to be the guest of Mr. and Mrs. George Russell in Newport. She’s giving a dinner in his honor.
Joshua Winterton: Perhaps, we’ll be invited.
Turner: First, she has me thrown out of the Academy. And now this?
Joshua Winterton: My dear, please, don’t upset yourself.
Turner: I will upset myself. And I’ll upset Mrs. George Russell if it’s the last thing I do.

Joshua Winterton: Enid, there will be other dukes.
Turner: I don’t want other dukes! I want this duke! We found him. And he’s mine! But that witch has stolen him from me!

5. Close Enough to Touch
'Marriage is something one should never settle for or talk oneself into.' - Ada Brook (The Gilded Age) Click To Tweet

Ada Brook: [to Marian and Oscar] As my niece and nephew, you’re the closest I’ll ever come to having children.
Agnes Van Rhijn: This is very melodramatic. Are we to witness your will? I’m surprised what you’re going to leave will warrant three signatures.

Ada Brook: You all know the Reverend Mr. Forte.
Agnes Van Rhijn: We certainly do. What about him?
Ada Brook: Well, the thing is…
Agnes Van Rhijn: This is like extracting teeth.
Ada Brook: He has asked me to marry him. And I have said yes.

'If you want revolution, you must take up your weapons and use them.' - Richard Clay (The Gilded Age) Click To Tweet

Agnes Van Rhijn: When is the wedding to take place?
Ada Brook: Next week.
Agnes Van Rhijn: Next week? God in heaven. Why the rush?
Ada Brook: I’ve been waiting my entire life for this. I don’t need a long engagement.

Ada Brook: [after Agnes refuses to come to the wedding] But I had hoped that Oscar would take me down the aisle.
Oscar Van Rhijn: I’d be honored.
Agnes Van Rhijn: My son will not participate in your tomfoolery.
Oscar Van Rhijn: Mama, this is harsh, even for you.

'Weakness is the harbinger of chaos.' - Richard Clay (The Gilded Age) Click To Tweet

Ada Brook: We hoped you’d be happy for me.
Agnes Van Rhijn: Why, when you’re making a terrible mistake? What do you know about marriage, or the duties of a wife? You’re a spinster. And you’ve always been a spinster.
Marian Brook: Why must you be so unkind?
Ada Brook: You’re right. I have a great deal to learn, which I’m looking forward to. Please don’t spoil it for me.

See more Season 2 Episode 5 Quotes

Agnes Van Rhijn: Did you know Miss Ada is engaged to marry the Reverend Mr. Forte?
Bannister: Oh. Congratulations, Miss Ada.
Agnes Van Rhijn: Do not congratulate her.
Bannister: I’m sorry?
Agnes Van Rhijn: Rescind your congratulations.

Bannister: My apologies, Miss Ada. But I must cancel my congratulations at Mrs. Van Rhijn’s request.
Ada Brook: I quite understand, Bannister.

Marian Brook: Don’t weaken. Not when your happiness is close enough to touch.
Ada Brook: But Agnes…
Marian Brook: Aunt Agnes is strong. She’ll get used to it. She can punch nails through a wall with her bare hands and not notice.
Ada Brook: She could certainly punch me through a wall. And it sounds like she intends to do just that.

Marian Brook: You are many things, Aunt Agnes, but I’d never describe you as obtuse.

Agnes Van Rhijn: This marriage would be a disgrace. What would our parents think if I were to say nothing and let this happen?
Marian Brook: So you try to please the dead by bullying the living? You might not care what I think, or how Aunt Ada feels, but I’m certain you care what everyone else will say. And to the outside world, it will seem that you are petulant and angry because Ada is no longer at your beck and call.

Larry Russell: [referring to his romance with Mrs. Blane] It wasn’t very original. Lovers meet, lovers part, boo hoo.
Marian Brook: I know how that plays out.
Larry Russell: Of course. You told me the night of Gladys’s ball.
Marian Brook: And now we’re even, twin sufferers on the cruel carousel of life.
Larry Russell: Let’s be comrades in arms instead.

Bertha Russell: I feel like a racehorse approaching the starting gate.
Church: And you’ll be a winner, ma’am. Nothing can stop you now.

Agnes Van Rhijn: I gather you and Ada plan to marry.
Reverend Matthew Forte: I’m relieved she’s told you.
Agnes Van Rhijn: You are aware that she has no money to speak of.
Reverend Matthew Forte: Mrs. Van Rhijn, I love her. I never expected to fall in love at my age, but I had not then met Ada.

Agnes Van Rhijn: Love seldom survives marriage.
Reverend Matthew Forte: I’m sorry if that was your experience.
Agnes Van Rhijn: But why must you do it so quickly?
Reverend Matthew Forte: Am I to understand that you are against the plan?
Agnes Van Rhijn: How perceptive.

Agnes Van Rhijn: She will be gone from my house, leaving me alone. Because that is what I will be. Alone.
Reverend Matthew Forte: You have your son and your niece.
Agnes Van Rhijn: Children marry and go. Ada is the only family that I could rely on. It was Ada who was there at Oscar’s birth. We buried our parents together. She’s my only true friend.

Reverend Matthew Forte: We both love Ada. That is clear.
Agnes Van Rhijn: Then stop being so selfish.
Reverend Matthew Forte: I’m not the selfish one here. And the fact is you have a choice. Would you like to be a part of our life or not? Because I am not going anywhere.
Agnes Van Rhijn: Marriage takes priority.
Reverend Matthew Forte: God’s command is clear. “Therefore man shall leave his father and mother, and shall cleave unto his wife, and they shall be one flesh.” Have you nothing more to say?
Agnes Van Rhijn: Not if you’ve given God the last word. How can I answer that?

Ada Brook: Luke, I don’t know if this is the right time for this, but I also don’t know if there will ever be a right time.
Reverend Matthew Forte: That’s where faith comes in.

Ada Brook: I never dreamt that I might still fall in love. Not now.

Ada Brook: I can’t turn my back on my sister.
Marian Brook: So you’re going to give up Luke Forte just to satisfy Aunt Agnes?
Ada Brook: No, not give up exactly. But perhaps if we postpone things until Agnes comes around.
Marian Brook: You can’t live your life waiting for Aunt Agnes’s approval.

Ada Brook: Luke told me to speak to you before I made a final decision. Now I know why.
Marian Brook: Then I’m very glad I was here.

George Russell: Would it be so terrible for them to have some time with their families?
Richard Clay: Yes, it would be terrible. Because it would lead, first, two lower profits, and, finally, to ruin, violence, bloodshed, and death.
George Russell: Please don’t hold back on my account.
Richard Clay: I mean it. Any concession now could only spell weakness. Weakness is the harbinger of chaos. One blink, and you’ll lose the war.

Larry Russell: [referring to the Brooklyn Bridge] This bridge will be one of the finest in the land, in the world. You should be proud of it, but I suppose you can’t be.
Emily Warren Roebling: No one must know a woman was the engineer behind the bridge. They might not even want to walk across it.
Larry Russell: It’s a shame, an unjust shame.

Ward McAllister: I never like to miss a red carpet, and certainly not one which can boast an English duke.

Ward McAllister: [to Bertha] My dear, the way to win a war is to bring out your biggest weapon. And yours is the duke.

Duke of Buckingham: Do you spend a lot of time in Newport, Miss Russell?
Gladys Russell: My mother seems to like it, so I suppose that’s what will happen.
Duke of Buckingham: Until you make your own life.
Gladys Russell: Do any of us ever really make our own lives?
Duke of Buckingham: That’s a deep question when we’ve barely begun to eat.

Joshua Winterton: Well, it was a good dinner. You must admit that.
Turner: I wouldn’t admit it if they tore my fingernails off to make me.

Peggy Scott: I won’t feel safe until I’m back in the city. My mother warned me, but I never could have imagined this.
T. Thomas Fortune: This is my fault. I grew up with these people. I should have protected you and held my tongue.
Peggy Scott: But that’s not who you are.
T. Thomas Fortune: And that’s not who you are either. That’s why I hired you.
Peggy Scott: Will things ever really change?
[they lean in and kiss each other]

Agnes Van Rhijn: Et tu, Bannister?
Bannister: I’m going to support Miss Ada, ma’am. And I urge you to do the same, or you may regret it for the rest of your life.

Marian Brook: [as Ada is about to get married] Are you nervous?
Ada Brook: Should I be?
Marian Brook: I have no idea, as I’ve never been in your position.
Ada Brook: I thought no one would come because of Agnes, but they have. Now I’m just excited and glad.

Marian Brook: You’re so certain about marrying Luke. You have no doubts?
Ada Brook: No. None at all.
Marian Brook: I hope that’s true of me when it’s my turn.
Ada Brook: Be sure it is. Marriage is something one should never settle for or talk oneself into. Yes?
Marian Brook: Thank you, Aunt Ada.

Season 1

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