I come from a class which used to be called the gentry – which is nowadays mistakenly used to include the nobility, but in fact is not. The gentry was essentially the untitled landowning class. – Julian Fellowes
I think Americans are wonderful film actors – the best in the world – but they are a very contemporary race and they look forward all the time. – Julian Fellowes
We live a life that is often spent in crowds – parties, festivals and first nights – so it’s nice to avoid them. – Julian Fellowes
Sometimes the weekend gets hijacked by work, but as my mother would say, this is the right problem. – Julian Fellowes
I like people who don’t accept boundaries. Like Florence Nightingale. And Napoleon or Louis XIV, though I’m not sure how much I’d have liked to meet them. I admire people who aren’t circumscribed by circumstance. – Julian Fellowes
We don’t really like rules. We think, in some way, they are an infringement of liberty. – Julian Fellowes
I think America has dealt with – I mean, this is simplistic, and of course I don’t live in America – but the impression I get is that there is not a kind of obligation to dislike those who are better off or be frightened of those who are worse off. – Julian Fellowes
Well, you’ve got to be known for something. The danger of extreme versatility is that you don’t spring to mind for anything. – Julian Fellowes
The moment I was introduced to my wife, Emma, at a party I thought, here she is – and 20 minutes later I told her she ought to marry me. She thought I was as mad as a rat. She wouldn’t even give me her telephone number – and she wrote in her diary: ‘A funny little man asked me to marry him.’ – Julian Fellowes
I always like to arrive at the airport early to enjoy breakfast and lounge about so that when I get on the plane all my travel fever has disappeared. – Julian Fellowes
I envy people who can think, ‘No, I’m not going to work today’ when they have a huge pile of deadlines stacking up. – Julian Fellowes
I mean the truth is, I’ve always been interested in the whole setup of the Old World. – Julian Fellowes
I like to take a long time over breakfast, and I can’t bear to talk. If a guest is a breakfast talker it’s very important to invite another so they can talk to each other. Otherwise they spoil the newspaper reading and everything else. – Julian Fellowes
I always loved movies and the cinema; we always used to go to see films as a family. – Julian Fellowes
My childhood was a happy one, spent in a tall house in South Kensington and later in East Sussex, but my early and mid teens were less successful. – Julian Fellowes
Plenty of friendships are sustainable through dinners and lunches, but will not stand a week away. So be careful with whom you go on holiday. – Julian Fellowes
If you are lucky, you have your moment. But it is never more than a moment. You have to enjoy it while it lasts. – Julian Fellowes
When you are desperate to get someone who isn’t all that interested in you, you lay siege as hard as you can. – Julian Fellowes
I think American television changed world television in its reinvention of the series. – Julian Fellowes
When people are feeling insecure about their jobs and there are cuts to be made, it’s hard to put up an argument that the film industry needs funding. – Julian Fellowes
Most of the soap operas always use the Christmas special to kill huge quantities of their characters. So they have trams coming off their rails, or cars slamming into each other or burning buildings. It’s a general clean-out. – Julian Fellowes
For most directors, the scriptwriter is about as welcome on set as a member of the Taliban. – Julian Fellowes
