- [Mrs. Forester's cow has fallen into a lime pit and is struggling in vain to get itself out]
- Mary Smith: I think the odour is the burning of the poor thing's hair - the lime has singed it off.
- Mrs. Forester: [shrieks] What care I if she's bald?
- Miss Deborah Jenkyns: She will not be bald if she cannot be recovered - she will be naked!
- Captain Brown: It pains me to say it, Mrs. Forester, but the poor bad beast will have to be destroyed - unless you're prepared to dress it in pyjamas!
- [Clara Smith hands her baby to Mary]
- Mrs. Clara Smith: [cattily] Hold Ralph. Your face will look so much pleasanter with a baby held up next to it.
- [Captain Brown has just announced that he will be Head of Works for the new railway line that is to be built to Cranford]
- Miss Deborah Jenkyns: You are the architect of our community's destruction. You've betrayed your daughter, your neighbours and your town. And you've wilfully kept your machinations secret.
- Captain Brown: I did not mean to deceive you. I am sorry if I have offended you.
- Miss Deborah Jenkyns: Oh, do not think that you owe us an apology. Apologies are required only when friends cause vexation to friends. Our acquaintance is clearly at an end.
- Miss Pole: The railroad will cut across Sir Charles's estate and power towards us like a bull that cannot be stopped and by 1845 we shall we utterly undone!
- Lady Ludlow: [Talking of her son] Dear Septimus. I still hope that he may find a suitable bride whilst living out in Italy and there may yet be a heir for all of this.
- Sir Charles Maulver: I think, perhaps, that you should not hope too hard.
- Miss Pole: Put no further pastries on your lips or you will choke when you hear the news I must report! This is more preposterous and shocking than when the Wombwell lions came and the little child's arm was bit keen off!
- Miss Deborah Jenkyns: That was a most charming entertainment, Major Gordon.
- Major Gordon: I think it helped that you beat time with your spoon.
- Miss Deborah Jenkyns: I generally do so when the piece transports me.
- Dr. Harrison: [to Caroline] These palpitations are, at the very least, injurious to your mother's health.
- Miss Tomkinson: Doctor Harrison, we are sisters!
- Miss Deborah Jenkyns: Jessie, convey your news.
- Jessie Brown: I have been sent anemones. And a note.
- [reads]
- Jessie Brown: "With the compliments of Major Gordon".
- Miss Matty Jenkyns: Anemones. We must look them up in 'The Language of Flowers'.
- Harry Gregson: You've got to fill the jug and take it home. The baby's starving.
- Malachi Gregson: I don't like touching udders.
- Harry Gregson: If you fetch milk for the baby every night I'll get you a bun of your own on a Friday.
- Malachi Gregson: Every Friday?
- Mary Smith: It attracted me at first because it was my mother's home, but I find I love it for its own sake now. All around us England shifts and changes but Cranford stands fast. Its women are like Amazons, and to those who live here it is the world entire.
- Miss Pole: [running to the other ladies] Put no further pastries to your lips for you will choke when you hear the news I must report. This is more preposterous and shocking than when Wormald's lions came and the little child's arm was bit clean off.
- [catches breath]
- Mrs. Forrester: [interrupts] The railway is to come to Cranford!
- Miss Pole: [annoyed, to Mrs Forrester] I rehearsed those words all the way from the worsted work.
- Miss Deborah Jenkyns: You will neither of you be so tender when Cranford is overrun by noise and disease and the Irish.
- Miss Matty Jenkyns: I suppose now there will nobody to call me Matilda anymore. Deborah did not care for my name being shortened but everybody did it, except she.
- Miss Deborah Jenkyns: Captain Brown's conduct is not to be tolerated. To insinuate himself into our society like a snake...
- Miss Matty Jenkyns: Oh, sister, not a snake! That is very harsh.
- Miss Deborah Jenkyns: He is at the very least a wolf in sheep's attire.
- Lady Ludlow: I always think the garden party shows Hanbury off at its very best. It is a pity that my son's health will not permit him to witness it.
- Mr. Carter: Has Lord Septimus sent word?
- Lady Ludlow: I received a letter just this morning. Most regretfully expressed.
- Mr. Carter: Perhaps next year we might commission an artist to record the event. An engraving could be sent to Italy.
- Lady Ludlow: Next year, Mr. Carter, I am certain that Lord Septimus will be with us.
- [Bessie, Mrs. Forrester's cow, has fallen into a lime pit]
- Mary Smith: I think the odor is the burning of the poor thing's hair. The lime has singed it off.
- Mrs. Forrester: What care I if she lives on bald?
- Miss Deborah Jenkyns: She will not be bald if she cannot recover - she will be naked!
- Captain Brown: It pains me to say so, Mrs. Forrester, but the poor bare beast will have to be destroyed.
- Mrs. Forrester: [Wails]
- Captain Brown: [Shrugging] ... Unless you are prepared to dress it in pajamas.
- Lady Ludlow: Dear Septimus. I still hope that he may find a suitable bride whilst living out in Italy, that there may yet be an heir for all this.
- Miss Galindo, Sir Charles Maulver: [Look at each other significantly]
- Sir Charles Maulver: I think, perhaps, that you should not hope too hard.
- [Miss Deborah has just found out that Captain Brown works for the railway]
- Miss Deborah Jenkyns: You are the architect of our community's destruction! You have betrayed your daughter, your neighbors, and your town, and you've willfully kept your machinations secret!
- Captain Brown: I did not mean to deceive you. I am sorry if I have offended you.
- Miss Deborah Jenkyns: Oh, do not think that you owe us an apology. Apologies are required only when friends cause vexation to friends. Our acquaintance is clearly at an end.
- Mr. Carter: You once said to me that if there was a school in Cranford, you would not go. Do you stand by that?
- Harry Gregson: There ain't no school, only a housework school.
- Mr. Carter: There is a world out there that is full of books, and figures, and words, and rules, and symbols that make all of the parts of our society move together like one great and glorious machine.
- Harry Gregson: [Quoting his father, a gypsy] Learning's not for everybody.
- Mr. Carter: We are all born knowing nothing, and we can die that way should we so choose. Now, ignorance is not a crime. But it is a waste. And waste is sinful.
- Harry Gregson: I don't know.
- Mr. Carter: What don't you know?
- Harry Gregson: Where to start.
- Mr. Carter: I'll show you where to start.