Streaming

48 Bridgerton Quotes That Are Better Than A Dance With The Viscount

Eloise may be the queen of one-liners, but Benedict is giving her a run for her money.

by Bustle Editors
Updated: 
Originally Published: 
the bridgerton siblings in their finery on the steps of their london house
Bridgerton / Netflix

Bridgerton is all anyone’s talking about, and for good reason: It’s colorful, it’s sexy, and it’s a downright pleasure to watch. If you haven’t taken the Regency plunge yet, please allow the best Bridgerton quotes to convince you to give it a go. Because really, is there anything Shonda Rhimes can't do? Major spoilers for Bridgerton follow.

Between the eight eponymous siblings, their long-suffering mama, and a sweeping cast of other characters both major and minor, Bridgerton has at least one person every viewer can relate to. Whether you’re here for Anthony’s curmudgeonliness, Benedict and Eloise’s quippy asides, Kate’s strong-willed assertions, or even the ice queen that is Cressida Cowper, you’re almost guaranteed to find someone on the show to fall in love with.

Bridgerton Season 2 brings some shakeups, namely the departure of one Regé-Jean Page, aka Simon Basset, the Duke of Hastings. Although Page’s exit from the show was reportedly amicable and planned from the very beginning, a lot of fans will come to Season 2 in a sort of mourning period, as a result. But trust us when we tell you that Bridgerton Season 2 packs enough charm, wit, and smoldering sexiness to make us all forget about Simon’s absence.

Below, the best Bridgerton quotes from Seasons 1 and 2.

1

The Warning

Season 1, Episode 1:

“The brighter a lady shines, the faster she may burn.” — Lady Whistledown

2

The Queen's Prerogative

Season 1, Episode 1:

“We all must know what the Queen despises more than anything — being wrong.” — Lady Whistledown

3

A Sister's Protection

Season 1, Episode 1:

Eloise: “I believe I should like to stay.”

Lady Violet: “I believe you should like to go."

4

You Can't Hurry Love

Season 1, Episode 2: “Dearest gentle reader, it is often said that those who marry in haste must repent at leisure. A sentiment that is clearly shared by Miss Daphne Bridgerton, who has apparently rejected not one, not two, but three proposals already this week.” — Lady Whistledown

5

A Woman's Truth

Season 1, Episode 1: “You have no idea what it is to be a woman. What it might be like to have one's entire life reduced to a single moment.” — Daphne

6

Strong Women — May We Know Them, May We Be Them

Season 1, Episode 2: “Having a nice face and pleasant hair is not an accomplishment. Do you know what is an accomplishment? Attending university! If I were a man, I could do that, you know.” — Eloise

7

A Classic Eloise One-Liner

Season 1, Episode 2: “Go on, then. Chastise me.” — Eloise

8

The Limitations Of 19th-Century Womanhood

Season 1, Episode 3: “If you desire the sun and the moon, all you have to do is go out and shoot at the sky. Some of us cannot.” — Eloise

9

The Ultimate Glow-Up

Season 1, Episode 3: “Why settle for a duke when one can have a prince?” — Lady Whistledown

10

An OG Burn

Season 1, Episode 3: “You would actually have to be interesting for me to bother spying on you.” — Eloise

11

An Heir & A Spare

Season 1, Episode 4: “Heirs have the responsibility. Second sons have the fun.” — Henry Granville

12

A Bird Set Free

Season 1, Episode 4: “Why must our only options be to squawk and settle or to never leave the nest? What if I want to fly?” — Eloise

13

The Marriage Market Makes Enemies Of Us All

Season 1, Episode 4: “I knew the marriage market would make rivals of us but I never thought you capable of being my enemy.” — Cressida Cowper

14

Daphne Steps Into Her Power

Season 1, Episode 5:

Simon: “Tell me what you want.”

Daphne: “I want you.”

15

Love's Painful Sting

Season 1, Episode 6: “All is fair in love and war but some battles leave no victor, only a trail of broken hearts that makes us wonder if the price we pay is ever worth the fight.” — Lady Whistledown

16

Indispensable Advice From The Inimitable Lady Danbury

Season 1, Episode 7: “Pride... it will cost you everything and leave you with nothing.” — Lady Danbury

17

The World Is A Bridgeton's Oyster

Season 1, Episode 8: “You are a Bridgerton. There is nothing you cannot do.” — Lady Violet

18

What Gets A Royal Down?

Season 2, Episode 1: “Apathy is a blight the monarchy simply cannot endure.” — Queen Charlotte

19

Anthony Bridgerton: True Romantic

Season 2, Episode 1: “What I need is what I have, and that is a list: tolerable, dutiful, suitable enough hips for childbearing, and at least half a brain. And that last part is not so much a requirement as a preference, in fact.” — Anthony Bridgerton

20

“Razor-Sharp Wit” Gets A Whole New Meaning

Season 2, Episode 1: “As the members of our esteemed ton lazily sojourned in their rustic retreats, this author was doing but one thing… Sharpening my knives, for you.” — Lady Whistledown

21

What Penelope Wants, Penelope Gets

Season 2, Episode 1: “My mistress changed her mind. You’re new to this arrangement, so I’ll say this only once. What my mistress wants, she gets, and for whatever reason, that would be you at the moment. That doesn’t make you special, Mr. Harris. Printers in this town are ten-a-penny. But there’s only one Lady Whistledown, and she could just as easily take her business elsewhere. So it’s 18, not a penny more. And the delivery boys need a wage increase. They’re the ones running around town while you get to sit here on your lazy arse.” — Penelope Featherington

22

Benedict’s Near-Perfect Impression

Season 2, Episode 1

Eloise: “I look like a prize calf, trussed up for auction.”

Benedict: *moos*

23

When Anthony Couldn’t Help But Flirt

Season 2, Episode 1

Kate: “I take issue with any man who views women as chattels and breeding stock. The Viscount Bridgerton, yes? When you manage to find this paragon of virtue, whatever makes you think she will accept your suit? Are the young ladies of London truly so easily won by a pleasing smile and absolutely nothing more?”

Anthony: “So you find my smile pleasing.”

24

Benedict Is Not A Babysitter

Season 2, Episode 1:

Lady Violet: “Have you seen your brother? Or your sister?”

Benedict: “Oh, they managed to escape you. Good for them.”

25

Kate Sharma Doesn’t Shirk On Her Big Sister Duties

Season 2, Episode 1: “I’ve spent the last eight years raising my sister to walk in the right way, to talk in the right way, to play the pianoforte just so. Teaching her twice as much and watching her work twice as hard as anyone else. I even taught her how to make this pitiful excuse for tea the English so adore. I despise English tea. But if it means my sister will not be left destitute, then I will smile, and I will nod politely after each and every sip, to be sure.” — Kate Sharma

26

Benedict Pokes Some Holes In Anthony’s Plan

Season 2, Episode 1:

Benedict: “If the queen, in fact, names Eloise the diamond, whom will you marry then, Brother?”

Anthony: “Hush, you.”

27

Some Things Never Change

Season 2, Episode 1:

Cressida: “Eloise Bridgerton: the diamond. Perhaps now you might stop spending time with insipid wallflowers all evening and refine your circle of friends. I may have an opening —”

Eloise: “I would rather die.”

28

At Least He’s Funny

Season 2, Episode 1:

Philippa: “I thought the heir was old.”

Prudence: “I thought the heir was ugly.”

Cousin Jack: “You must mean my father. And no offense taken, he was ugly. And very old. So old that, well, he died.”

29

This Fencing Exchange

Season 2, Episode 2:

Anthony: “She is pompous and arrogant and quite sure she knows best in every situation.”

Colin: “Well, she sounds like a terrible nuisance.”

Benedict: “Especially since you are the one who knows best in every situation.”

Anthony: “Do you know why I win every time?”

Benedict: “Because every time you lose, you claim we cheated.”

30

On Pell Mell

Season 2, Episode 3:

Daphne: “It is a poor player who plays the game, and a wise one who plays their opponent.”

Kate: “I believe I shall rather enjoy this game.”

Daphne: “Now, Benedict is a solid shot, but he avoids conflict. Colin is crafty. He will strike when he thinks you are least suspecting it, so always be suspecting it. Eloise concentrates entirely on defeating her older brothers, so the hope is that she gets so absorbed by them that she forgets about you. I, of course, am a complete enigma who will divulge none of my secrets. And, well, then there is Anthony.”

Kate: “Let me guess — a most ruthless, cutthroat player.”

Daphne: “Why, you have made his acquaintance.”

31

On Finding The One

Season 2, Episode 3: “If you say Miss Edwina is the one for you; if you say she is the one in whose presence you cannot properly think, or even breathe; if you say you feel that feeling, the one that makes it impossible for you to look away from them at any given moment, when your body and soul feel as if they could burst into flames whenever the two of you are near; when all you are able to do in their presence is to fight the urge to lean forward and touch their lips with yours... If that is the feeling you have when you are with Miss Edwina, I am quite happy for you indeed.” — Daphne

32

This Heartbreaking Depiction Of Depression & Grief

Season 2, Episode 3: “I slept. I bathed. I went for a walk outdoors. I saw the children. I went to chapel. Now I’m making myself useful with embroidery. This is it. This is my best. I am doing my best. Every day, I get up, I get dressed, I feed myself, I try to breathe in and out. I force myself to stop by the nursery. And I think about how sorry I feel for little baby Hyacinth, because she will never know Edmund’s laugh, or the way he smelled, or what it is to be hugged in his arms. I feel even sorrier for myself, because, most of the time, all I am thinking is that this little baby did not do me the kindness of killing me so that I could be with my husband. Edmund was the air that I breathed, and now there is no air.” — Lady Violet

33

When Colin Needed To Be Set Straight

Season 2, Episode 4: “I do not need your apology any more than I desire your forgiveness. All of this, you and I, is in the past. I have left the past behind. You should do the same.” — Lady Crane

34

And When Eloise Set Her Would-Be Suitor Straight

Season 2, Episode 2:

Lord Morrison: “Ah. You have read Locke. It is required of all men past a certain age, surely. Not so much for young ladies.”

Eloise: “Because our feeble minds might collapse if we put too many ideas in them.”

Lord Morrison: “For most of the ladies I have met, that seems to be true. Many of them cannot even articulate a thought.”

Eloise: “And do you not think that is because they have not been offered the same opportunities?”

Lord Morrison: “I understand that you scorn this farcical performance that is good society. What do you say we quit the dance floor and add some brandy to the punch?”

Eloise: “Perhaps I shall quit the dance floor, now. Next time you compliment a woman, at least try not to insult her entire sex in the process.”

35

When Anthony & Kate Revealed A Little Too Much To One Another

Season 2, Episode 4:

Anthony: “You simply do not like me.”

Kate: “Of course I do not like you—”

Anthony: “Then tell me why. Have I done something to you? Why is it that you dislike me so?”

Kate: “Because you vex me!”

Anthony: “And what is it, do you think, you do to me?”

36

When Colin Sympathized With His Brother’s Intended

Season 2, Episode 5:

Gregory: “Will Miss Edwina be coming to live with us?”

Lady Violet: “Indeed. After the wedding, she shall be the lady of the house and responsible for you all.”

Colin: “May the Lord help her.”

37

This Succinct Diamond Of A Quote

Season 2, Episode 5: “Why should there be limits to a woman’s ambitions? There is always more to be achieved.” — Madame Delacroix

38

On Women’s Independence

Season 2, Episode 5: “A life of independence is no mere consolation. Indeed, many would think it the better prize. After passion cools and fate intervenes, who else is a woman left with but herself?” — Lady Danbury

39

When Lady Sheffield Was Put In Her Place

Season 2, Episode 5: “I can only think that you have been exiled from good society because of your deficient manners, rather than any other sin. Since the moment you arrived, you have failed to show the proper respect for the Sharma family, and I will not stand for it. Lady Mary has done admirably in raising her daughters. They are intelligent, kind, loyal women, and a credit to both their parents. And since you clearly do not wish to jeopardize your social standing by associating with such company, I suggest you do not. You may leave at once.” — Anthony

40

Half Agony, Half Hope

Season 2, Episode 5: “Do you think that there is a corner of this earth that you could travel to, far away enough to free me from this torment? I am a gentleman. My father raised me to act with honor, but that honor is hanging by a thread that grows more precarious with every moment I spend in your presence. You are the bane of my existence… and the object of all my desires. Night and day, I dream of you. Do you even know all the ways a lady can be seduced?” — Anthony

41

True Love

Season 2, Episode 6: “True love is something else entirely. It is when the rest of the world goes quiet. It is not eyes that meet, but souls that dance.” — Kate

42

When Benedict Was Put In Charge Of Relieving Colin’s Hangover

Season 2, Episode 6:

Lady Violet: “Whatever you have done to your brother, undo it.”

Colin: “I may never reach your capacity for drink, Brother.”

Benedict: “It’s a simple remedy: if you continue to drink, there can be no after-effects.”

Eloise: “If only you would use your powers for good.”

43

Diamond Of The First Water

Season 2, Episode 6: “She will make a most excellent queen, Your Majesty. I hear the two of you faced many trials during your happy courtship. Today will make all of it well worth it, will it not? Perhaps you might find your rest, Your Majesty, before you both rule this kingdom with the kind of love, compassion, and kindness the two of you undoubtedly share.” — Edwina

44

True Love & The Crown

Season 2, Episode 6: “The challenge of the crown is that it is tangible. It is a physical reminder of the position. It is why, say, Lady Whistledown circulates her pamphlets instead of trading in whispered rumor. A whisper is relevant for only as long as it is spoken, but a paper represents more. Its physical form grants permanence. The same cannot be said of true love, of course. It changes. It forgets. It forces you to remember who you once were. And it forces you to choose how you will live with it, again and again.” — Queen Charlotte

45

We Stan A Petty Queen

Season 2, Episode 7: “A ball may very well work. After all, the viscount and my sister have been so good at hiding their true feelings from everyone in public this far. It should not trouble them to do the same a little longer.” — Edwina

46

You Have Bewitched Me, Body & Soul

Season 2, Episode 7: “I have never met anyone like you. It is maddening how much you consume my very being. My family is on the brink of ruin. I am nearly certain every last one of my brothers and sisters secretly despise me. My own mother, at that, despite the fact that I have lived the better part of my life for them. And yet still, all I find myself thinking about, all I find myself being able to breathe for, is you. Do you think that I want to be in this position? Contending with these thoughts of wanting to be nowhere except with you; wanting to run away with you; of acting on the most impure, forbidden desires, no matter how much I must remind myself I am a gentleman and you are a lady.” — Anthony

47

On Real Ambition

Season 2, Episode 8: “At least I did something. All you ever do is talk about doing something. You’ve all these great ambitions, these great plans, but I am the one who actually did something great, and you cannot stand it, can you? And what do you think that makes you?” — Penelope

48

True Confessions Of A Viscount In Love

Season 2, Episode 8: “I was fearful of losing you. It is why I could not visit you after your accident. I could not bring myself to — I love you. I have loved you from the moment we raced each other in that park. I have loved you at every dance, on every walk, every time we’ve been together, and every time we’ve been apart. You do not have to accept it. You do not have to embrace it, or even allow it. Knowing you, you probably will not. But you must know it in your heart. You must feel it, because I do. I love you. I know I am imperfect, but I will humble myself before you, because I cannot imagine my life without you, and that is why I wish to marry you.” — Anthony

This article was originally published on