J.R.R. Tolkien

Faithless is he that says farewell when the road darkens. J. R. R.

In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit.

 

I speak no comfort to you, for there is no comfort for such pain within the circles of the world. The uttermost choice is before you: to repent and go to the Havens and bear away into the West the memory of our days together that shall there be evergreen but never more than memory; or else to abide the Doom of Men.

 

I am in fact a Hobbit (in all but size). I likegardens, trees, and unmechanized farmlands; I smoke a pipe, and like good plain food (unrefrigerated), but detest French cooking; I like, and even dare to wear in these dull days, ornamental waistcoats. I am fond of mushrooms (out of a field); have a very simple sense of humor (which even my appreciative critics find tiresome); I go to bed late and get up late (when possible). I do not travel much.

 

“The realm of Sauron is ended!” said Gandalf.

 

[ Sam Gamgee speaking :] “Well, I’m back,” he said.

 

The Road goes ever on and on

 

“I will take the Ring,” he said, “though I do not know the way.”

 

I desired dragons with a profound desire. Of course, I in my timid body did not wish tohave them in the neighborhood, intrudinginto my relatively safe world, in which it was, for instance, possible to read stories in peace of mind, free from fear. But the world thatcontained even the imagination of Fáfnir was richer and more beautiful, at whatever cost of peril.

 

Do not laugh! But once upon a time (my crest has long since fallen) I had a mind to make abody of more or less connected legend, rangingfrom the large and cosmogonic, to the level ofromantic fairy-story—the larger founded onthe lesser in contact with the earth, the lesserdrawing splendor from the vast backcloths—which I could dedicate simply to: to England; tomy country.

 

It is not the strength of the body that counts, but the strength of the spirit.

'I wish life was not so short,' he thought. 'Languages take such a time, and so do all the things one wants to know about.' J. R. R.

It's a dangerous business going out your front door. J. R. R.

Still round the corner there may wait,
A new road or a secret gate. J. R. R.

Valour needs first strength, then a weapon. J. R. R.

 

The deeds will not be less valiant because they are unpraised. J. R. R.

 

He that breaks a thing to find out what it is has left the path of wisdom. J. R.R.

 

What do you mean? Do you wish me a good morning, or mean that it is a good morning whether I want it or not; or that you feel good on this morning; or that it is a morning to be good on? J. R. R.

 

I have no help to send, therefore I must go myself. J. R. R.

 

For though I do not ask for aid, we need it. J. R. R.

 

Few can foresee whither their road will lead them, till they come to its end. J. R. R.

The treacherous are ever distrustful. J. R. R.

 

He should not vow to walk in the dark, who has not seen the nightfall. J. R. R.

 

Their Oath shall drive them, and yet betray them, and ever snatch away the very treasures that they have sworn to pursue. J. R. R.

 

With hope or without hope we will follow the trail of our enemies. And woe to them, if we prove the swifter! J. R. R.

Some who have read the book, or at any rate have reviewed it, have found it boring, absurd, or contemptible, and I have no cause to complain, since I have similar opinions of their works... J. R. R.

I am in fact a Hobbit, in all but size. J. R .R.

Their plans were improved with the best advice. J. R.

 

We are never late. We arrive precisely when we mean to. J. R.

 

There I lay staring upward, while the stars wheeled over... Faint to my ears came the gathered rumor of all lands: the springing and the dying, the song and the weeping, and the slow everlasting groan of overburdened stone. J. R. R.

Yet such is off the course of deeds that move the wheels of the world: small hands do them because they must, while the eyes of the great are elsewhere. J. R.

 

The Darkness has begun. There will be no dawn. J.R.R.

 

The board is set; the pieces are moving. We come to it at last...
The great battle of our time. J. R. R.

 

The world has changed. I see it in the water. I feel it in the Earth. I smell it in the air. Much that once was is lost, for none now live who remember it. J. R. R.

The world is indeed full of peril, and in it there are many dark places; but still there is much that is fair; and though in all lands love is now mingled with grief, it grows perhaps the greater. J.R.R.

 

All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us. J. R. R.