He [Bilbo] fought the real battle in the tunnel alone, before he ever saw the vast danger that lay in wait. J. R. R. Tolkien More Quotes by J. R. R. Tolkien More Quotes From J. R. R. Tolkien We are being at once wisely aware of our own frivolity if we avoid hitting and whacking and prefer 'striking' and 'smiting'; talk and chat and prefer 'speech' and 'discourse'; well-bred, brilliant, or polite noblemen (visions of snobbery columns in the Press, and fat men on the Riviera) and prefer the 'worthy, brave and courteous men' of long ago. J. R. R. Tolkien long-ago brave men And yet, Eomer, I say to you that she loves you more truly than me, for you she loves and knows; but in me she loves only a shadow and a thought: a hope of glory and great deeds, and lands far from the fields of Rohan. - Aragorn to Eomer, of Eowyn J. R. R. Tolkien shadow land love-you One felt as if there was an enormous well behind them. Filled up with ages of memory and long, slow, steady thinking; but their surface was sparkling with the present : like sun shimmering on the outer leaves of a vast tree, or on the ripples of a very deep lake. I don’t know, but I t felt as if something that grew in the ground—asleep, you might say, or just feeling itself as something between roof-tip and leaf-tip, between deep earth and sky had suddenly waked up, and was considering you with the same slow care that it had given to its own inside affairs for endless years. J. R. R. Tolkien lakes memories thinking I'm in a position where it doesn't matter what people think of me now. J. R. R. Tolkien matter people thinking Perilous to us all are the devices of an art deeper than we possess ourselves. J. R. R. Tolkien two-towers deeper art Thank you, Sam," he said in a cracked whisper. "How far is there to go?" I don't know," said Sam, "because I don't know where we're going. J. R. R. Tolkien cracked knows said Tears unnumbered ye shall shed. J. R. R. Tolkien shed tears After all, I believe that legends and myths are largely made of 'truth', and indeed present aspects of it that can only be received in this mode; and long ago certain truths and modes of this kind were discovered and must always reappear. J. R. R. Tolkien legends long-ago believe Hobbits delighted in such things, if they were accurate; they liked to have books filled with things that they already knew, set out fair and square with no contradictions. J. R. R. Tolkien contradiction squares book He was kindhearted, in a way. You know the sort of kind heart: it made him uncomfortable more often than it made him do anything; and even when he did anything, it did not prevent him from grumbling, losing his temper and swearing (mostly to himself). J. R. R. Tolkien grumbling heart way If you do not believe in a personal God, the question: 'What is the purpose of life?' is unaskable and unanswerable. J. R. R. Tolkien purpose god believe In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit. Not a nasty, dirty, wet hole, filled with the ends of worms and an oozy smell, nor yet a dry, bare, sandy hole with nothing in it to sit down on or to eat: it was a hobbit-hole, and that means comfort. J. R. R. Tolkien smell mean dirty I am glad you are here with me. Here at the end of all things, Sam. J. R. R. Tolkien return-of-the-king frodo friendship It was just as the 1914 War burst on me that I made the discovery that 'legends' depend on the language to which they belong; but a living language depends equally on the 'legends' which it conveys by tradition. ... Volapuk, Esperanto, Ido, Novial, &c &c are dead, far deader than ancient unused languages, because their authors never invented any Esperanto legends. J. R. R. Tolkien esperanto discovery war Every writer making a secondary world wishes in some measure to be a real maker, or hopes that he is drawing on reality: hopes that the peculiar quality of this secondary world (if not all the details) are derived from Reality, or are flowing into it. J. R. R. Tolkien drawing real wish Come, Mr. Frodo!' he cried. 'I can't carry it for you, but I can carry you and it as well. So up you get! Come on, Mr. Frodo dear! Sam will give you a ride. Just tell him where to go, and he'll go J. R. R. Tolkien samwise-gamgee frodo giving And that's the way of a real tale. Take any one that you're fond of. You may know, or guess, what kind of a tale it is, happy-ending or sad-ending, but the people in it don't know. And you don't want them to. J. R. R. Tolkien real may people I will not give you counsel, saying do this, or do that. For not in doing or contriving, nor in choosing between this course and another, can I avail; but only in knowing what was and is, and in part also what shall be. J. R. R. Tolkien galadriel knowing giving Already he was a very different hobbit from the one that had run out without a pocket-handkerchief from Bag-End long ago. He had not had a pocket-handkerchief for ages. J. R. R. Tolkien long-ago age running It seemed like all the way to tomorrow and over it to the days beyond. J. R. R. Tolkien over-it tomorrow way
