The Remains of the Day Quotes

Miss Kenton: Look at it! Is that or is it not the wrong Chinaman?

Stevens: Miss Kenton, I'm very busy. I am surprised that you have nothing better to do than stand around all day...

Miss Kenton: Mr. Stevens, look at that Chinaman and tell me the truth!

Stevens: Miss Kenton, I would ask you to keep your voice down. What would the other servants think to hear us shouting at the top of our voices about... Chinamen?

Miss Kenton: And I would ask you, Mr. Stevens, to turn around and look at the Chinaman.

Miss Kenton: [teasing] Why won't you show me your book?

Stevens: This is my private time. You're invading it.

Miss Kenton: Oh, is that so?

Stevens: Yes.

Miss Kenton: I'm invading your private time, am I?

Stevens: Yes.

[after telling Stevens she intends to accept Benn's marriage proposal]

Miss Kenton: Mister Stevens! Am I to take it that after all the years I have been in this house you have nothing else to say to me?

Stevens: You have my warmest congratulations.

Miss Kenton: People always cheer when they turn the lights on in the evening. Every time.

Stevens: I wonder why?

Miss Kenton: They do say, that for a great many people the evening's the best part of the day. The part they most look forward to.

Sir Geoffrey Wren: So, gentlemen, you speak of Jews and Gypsies, Negroes, and so on so forth. But one has to regard the racial laws of the Fascists as a sanitary measure much overdue, in my opinion.

Wren's Friend: But imagine trying to enforce such a rule in this country.

Sir Geoffrey Wren: My Lord, my Lord, you cannot run a country without a penal system. Here we call them prisons. Over there they call them concentration camps. What's the difference? Ah, Stevens, is there any meat of any kind in this soup?

Miss Kenton: [about a new housemaid] You don't like having pretty girls on the staff, I've noticed.

[teasing]

Miss Kenton: Might it be that our Mr Stevens fears distraction? Can it be that our Mr Stevens is flesh and blood after all and doesn't trust himself?

Stevens: [with the faintest trace of a smile] You know what I'm doing, Miss Kenton? I'm placing my thoughts elsewhere as you chatter away.

Miss Kenton: ...then why is that guilty smile still on your face?

Stevens: Oh it's not a guilty smile. I'm simply amused by the sheer nonsense you sometimes talk.

Miss Kenton: It *is* a guilty smile. You can hardly bear to look at her. That's why you didn't want to take her on, she's too pretty.

Stevens: Well, you must be right Miss Kenton, you always are.

Lewis: Burned again?

Stevens: Yes, I'm sorry sir. The rule of the kitchen here has always been that the cook cooks the cook's breakfast while her assistant toast's the toast.

Lewis: Well, why don't we just get her a popup toaster?

Stevens: Mr Lewis, we need not a new gadget, but, a revised staff plan, sir.

Stevens: Quite recently, you were kind enough to suggest that I go on a little holiday. That I take a trip around the country.

Lewis: Absolutely. Certainly. Take a break. See the world. When did you last see the world, Stevens, tell me?

Stevens: Well, in the past, the world always used to come to this house, in a manner of speaking, if I may say so, sir.

Lewis: You may say so.

Stevens: I regard this room as my private place of work and I - I prefer to keep distractions to a minimum.

Miss Kenton: Would you call flowers a distraction, then, Mr. Stevens?

Stevens: I appreciate your kindness, Miss Kenton, but I prefer to keep things as they are.

Stevens: A great butler must be possessed of dignity...

Father: In keeping with his position.

Reginald Cardinal: I just don't see how we can associate ourselves now with the Germans. You know, with the Nazi party, they have actually torn up and trampled on every single treaty and seem to be a worst threat than ever to the whole of Europe. Not to mention their brutal dictatorship at home.

Lord Darlington: My dear boy, when I was in Berlin, I saw, at last, a happy German people, with jobs, with bread, pride in their country, and love of their leader.

Reginald Cardinal: And, eh, what about the Jews?

Lord Darlington: We have some refugee girls on the staff at the moment, I believe.

Stevens: We do, my Lord. Two housemaids. Elsa and Irma.

Lord Darlington: You'll have to let them go, I'm afraid.

Stevens: Let them go, my Lord?

Lord Darlington: Its regrettable, Stevens; but, we have no choice. You've got to see the whole thing in context. I have the well being of my guests to consider.

Stevens: My Lord, may I say, they work extremely well. They're intelligent, polite, and very clean.

Lord Darlington: I'm sorry, Stevens; but, I've looked into the this matter very carefully. There are larger issues at stake. I'm sorry; but, there it is. They're Jews.

Miss Kenton: You're saying that Elsa and Irma are being dismissed because they're Jewish?

Stevens: His Lordship has made his decision. There is nothing for you and I to discuss.

Miss Kenton: You realize if those girls have no work, they could be sent back to Germany.

Stevens: It is out of our hands.

Miss Kenton: I'm telling you, Mr. Stevens, if you dismiss my girls tomorrow, it will be *wrong*. A sin! As any sin ever was one.

Stevens: Miss Kenton, there are many things you and I don't understand in this world of today; whereas, his Lordship, understands fully and has studied the larger issues at stake concerning, say, the nature of the Jewry.

Lord Darlington: Stevens, I realize this is a somewhat irregular thing to ask you to do.

Stevens: I should very glad to be of any assistance, my Lord.

Lord Darlington: Sorry to bring up a thing like this; but, I just can't see how on earth to make it go away. You are familiar, I take it, with the facts of life?

Stevens: My Lord?

Lord Darlington: The facts of life, Stevens. Birds. Bees. You are familiar, aren't you?

Stevens: I'm afraid I don't quite follow you, sir.

Lord Darlington: Well, let me put my cards on the table, Stevens. I'm so frightfully busy with this conference. Of course, you're very busy too! But, someone has to tell him. In a way, it would be easier for you. Less awkward. I - I find the task rather daunting, I'm afraid. In might not get around to it before Reginalds wedding day. Of course, this goes far beyond the call of duty, Stevens.

Stevens: I - I shall do my best, my Lord.

Lord Darlington: I'd be grateful if you even tried, Stevens. It'd be an awful lot off my mind. Look here, there's no need to make a song and dance of it. Just convey the basic facts and be done with it.

Miss Kenton: I am a coward. I'm frightened of leaving and that's the truth. All I see out in the world is loneliness and it frightens me. That's all my high principals are worth, Mr. Stevens. I'm ashamed of myself.

Stevens: Miss Kenton, you mean a great deal to this house. You're extremely important to this house. Miss Kenton.

Miss Kenton: Am I?

Charlie, Head Footman: Have you told her yet?

[Lizzie shakes her head no]

Charlie, Head Footman: Well, you better get on with it, haven't you.

Lizzie: Charlie, what can I say to her? She'd never understand about us.

Charlie, Head Footman: Why wouldn't she?

Lizzie: Well, she's old. She must be at least 30.

Charlie, Head Footman: Well, perhaps she doesn't feel all that old.

Miss Kenton: Are you shy about your book?

Stevens: No.

Miss Kenton: What is it? Is it racy?

Stevens: Racy?

Miss Kenton: Are you reading a racy book?

Stevens: Do you think racy books are to be found on his Lordship's shelves?

Miss Kenton: How do I know?

Benn: I'm glad to be out of it, I can tell you. There was something about Sir Geoffery and his blackshirts. They gave me the creeps.

Miss Kenton: Mr. Stevens always says its up to us to run the house and leave the rest where it belongs. You don't agree, Mr. Benn?

Benn: No.

Miss Kenton: Neither do I, really.

Benn: Well, if I don't like something, I want to be in the position to say, "stuff it." If you will pardon the expression, Miss Kenton. But, I suppose I'm not a real professional, like Mr. Stevens.

Miss Kenton: It's Mr. Stevens whole life.

Miss Kenton: There are times when I think what a terrible mistake I've made with my life.

Stevens: Yes. I'm sure we all have these thoughts, from time to time.

[last lines]

Stevens: Well done.