Authors — Quotes

J.R.R. Tolkien Quotes: 61

All that is gold does not glitter,Not all those who wander are lost;The old that is strong does not wither,Deep roots are not reached by the frost.From the ashes a fire shall be woken,A light from the shadows shall spring;Renewed shall be blade that was broken,The crownless again shall be king.
The Fellowship of the Ring
Not all those who wander are lost.
The Fellowship of the Ring
I wish it need not have happened in my time,"said Frodo."So do I,"said Gandalf, "and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.
The Fellowship of the Ring
I don't know half of you half as well as I should like; and I like less than half of you half as well as you deserve.
The Fellowship of the Ring
All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.
The Fellowship of the Ring
If more of us valued food and cheer and song above hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world.
Never laugh at live dragons.
Faithless is he that says farewell when the road darkens.
The Fellowship of the Ring
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.
The Fellowship of the Ring
Deserves it! I daresay he does. Many that live deserve death. And some that die deserve life. Can you give it to them? Then do not be too eager to deal out death in judgement. For even the very wise cannot see all ends.
The Fellowship of the Ring
There is some good in this world, and it's worth fighting for.
The Two Towers
It's a dangerous business, Frodo, going out your door. You step onto the road, and if you don't keep your feet, there's no knowing where you might be swept off to.
The Lord of the Rings
I will not say, do not weep, for not all tears are an evil.
A single dream is more powerful than a thousand realities.
Fantasy is escapist, and that is its glory. If a soldier is imprisioned by the enemy, don't we consider it his duty to escape?. . .If we value the freedom of mind and soul, if we're partisans of liberty, then it's our plain duty to escape, and to take as many people with us as we can!
The Road goes ever on and onDown from the door where it began.Now far ahead the Road has gone,And I must follow, if I can,Pursuing it with eager feet,Until it joins some larger wayWhere many paths and errands meet.And whither then? I cannot say
The Fellowship of the Ring
War must be, while we defend our lives against a destroyer who would devour all; but I do not love the bright sword for its sharpness, nor the arrow for its swiftness, nor the warrior for his glory. I love only that which they defend.
The Two Towers
Three Rings for the Elven-kings under the sky, Seven for the Dwarf-lords in halls of stone,Nine for Mortal Men, doomed to die, One for the Dark Lord on his dark throneIn the Land of Mordor where the Shadows lie. One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them, One Ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them.In the Land of Mordor where the Shadows lie.
The Lord of the Rings
And he took her in his arms and kissed her under the sunlit sky, and he cared not that they stood high upon the walls in the sight of many.
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 this morning; or that it is a morning to be good on?
The Hobbit
Still round the corner there may wait A new road or a secret gateAnd though I oft have passed them by A day will come at last when IShall take the hidden paths that run West of the Moon, East of the Sun.
Little by little, one travels far
I am glad you are here with me. Here at the end of all things, Sam.
The Return of the King
Courage is found in unlikely places.
It's the job that's never started as takes longest to finish.
The Lord of the Rings
May it be a light to you in dark places, when all other lights go out.
The Fellowship of the Ring
Ho! Ho! Ho! To the bottle I goTo heal my heart and drown my woeRain may fall, and wind may blowAnd many miles be still to goBut under a tall tree will I lieAnd let the clouds go sailing by
For like a shaft, clear and cold, the thought pierced him that in the end the Shadow was only a small and passing thing: there was light and high beauty for ever beyond its reach.
The Return of the King
I have claimed that Escape is one of the main functions of fairy-stories, and since I do not disapprove of them, it is plain that I do not accept the tone of scorn or pity with which 'Escape' is now so often used. Why should a man be scorned if, finding himself in prison, he tries to get out and go home? Or if he cannot do so, he thinks and talks about other topics than jailers and prison-walls?
So comes snow after fire, and even dragons have their endings.
The Hobbit
In this hour, I do not believe that any darkness will endure.
The Return of the King
Oft hope is born when all is forlorn.
The Return of the King
He that breaks a thing to find out what it is has left the path of wisdom.
The Fellowship of the Ring
It is not despair, for despair is only for those who see the end beyond all doubt. We do not.
The Fellowship of the Ring
There is more in you of good than you know, child of the kindly West. Some courage and some wisdom, blended in measure. If more of us valued food and cheer and song above hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world.
The Hobbit
Ónen i-estel edain, ú-chebin estel anim.(I gave Hope to the Dúnedain, I have kept none for myself.)(Gilraen's linnod)
The Return of the King
Fair speech may hide a foul heart.
The Two Towers
Out of doubt, out of dark to the day's risingI came singing into the sun, sword unsheathing.To hope's end I rode and to heart's breaking:Now for wrath, now for ruin and a red nightfall!
The Return of the King
End? No, the journey doesn't end here. Death is just another path, one that we all must take. The grey rain-curtain of this world rolls back, and all turns to silver glass, and then you see it.
Your time may come. Do not be too sad, Sam. You cannot be always torn in two. You will have to be one and whole, for many years. You have so much to enjoy and to be, and to do.
The Return of the King
I was talking aloud to myself. A habit of the old: they choose the wisest person present to speak to
The Two Towers
The treacherous are ever distrustful.
The Two Towers
There are some things that it is better to begin than to refuse, even though the end may be dark.
The Two Towers
Criticism - however valid or intellectually engaging - tends to get in the way of a writer who has anything personal to say. A tightrope walker may require practice, but if he starts a theory of equilibrium he will lose grace (and probably fall off).
The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien
I will take the Ring", he said, "though I do not know the way.
The Fellowship of the Ring
End? No, the journey doesn't end here. Death is just another path. One that we all must take.
The Return of the King
The world was fair, the mountains tallIn Elder Days before the fall...
The Fellowship of the Ring
Have you thought of an ending?" "Yes, several, and all are dark and unpleasant." "Oh, that won't do! Books ought to have good endings. How would this do: and they all settled down and lived together happily ever after?" "It will do well, if it ever came to that." "Ah! And where will they live? That's what I often wonder.
The Fellowship of the Ring
Above all shadows rides the Sunand Stars for ever dwell:I will not say the Day is done,nor bid the Stars farewell.
The Return of the King
Courage will now be your best defence against the storm that is at hand-—that and such hope as I bring.
The Return of the King
We set out to save the Shire, Sam and it has been saved - but not for me.
The Return of the King
It is wisdom to recognize necessity when all other courses have been weighed, though as folly it may appear to those who cling to false hope.
The Fellowship of the Ring
Pippin glanced in some wonder at the face now close beside his own, for the sound of that laugh had been gay and merry. Yet in the wizard's face he saw at first only lines of care and sorrow; though as he looked more intently he perceived that under all there was a great joy: a fountain of mirth enough to set a kingdom laughing, were it to gush forth.
The Lord of the Rings
Being a cheerful hobbit, he had not needed hope, as long as despair could be postponed.
The Two Towers
I do not know what is happening. The reason of my waking mind tells me that great evil has befallen and we stand at the end of days. But my heart says nay; and all my limbs are light, and a hope and joy are come to me that no reason can deny. [...] I do not believe that darkness will endure!
The Return of the King
Mercy!"cried Gandalf. "If the giving of knowledge is to be the cure of your inquisitiveness, I shall spend all the rest of my days in answering you. What more should you like to know?" "The names of all the stars, and of all living things, and the whole history of Middle-Earth and Over-heave and of the Sundering Seas,"laughed Pippin. "Of course! What less?
The Two Towers
The day will bring hope for me,"said Aragorn. "Is it not said that no foe has ever taken the Hornburg, if men defended it?" "So the minstrels say,"said Éomer."Then let us defend it, and hope!
The Two Towers
He never had any real hope in the affair from the beginning;but being a cheerful hobbit he had not needed hope,as long as despair could be postponed.
The Two Towers
I have spoken words of hope. But only of hope. Hope is not victory.
The Two Towers
I can manage,"said Frodo. "I must.
The Return of the King
Then hope unlooked-for came so suddenly to Eomer's heart, and with it the bite of care and fear renewed, that he said no more, but turned and went swiftly from the hall.
The Return of the King