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.
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Quotes by J. R. R. Tolkien
Explore 25 verified and sourced quotes attributed to J. R. R. Tolkien. Open any quote for its dedicated page, source details and related topics.
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Selected quotes by J. R. R. Tolkien
If more of us valued food and cheer and song above hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world.
Not all those who wander are lost.
Faithless is he that says farewell when the road darkens.
Still round the corner there may wait, A new road or a secret gate.
All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.
You have been chosen, and you must therefore use such strength and heart and wits as you have.
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.
A box without hinges, key, or lid, yet golden treasure inside is hid.
Courage is found in unlikely places.
I dislike Allegory - the conscious and intentional allegory - yet any attempt to explain the purport of myth or fairytale must use allegorical language.
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.
It does not do to leave a live dragon out of your calculations, if you live near him.
Short cuts make long delays.
The wide world is all about you: you can fence yourselves in, but you cannot forever fence it out.
It's the job that's never started as takes longest to finish.
A safe fairyland is untrue to all worlds.
It is plain indeed that in spite of later estrangement Hobbits are relatives of ours: far nearer to us than Elves, or even than Dwarves. Of old they spoke the languages of Men, after their own fashion, and liked and disliked much the same things as Men did. But what exactly our relationship is can no longer be discovered.
'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.'
In October 1920 I went to Leeds as Reader in English Language, with a free commission to develop the linguistic side of a large and growing School of English Studies, in which no regular provision had as yet been made for the linguistic specialist.
Hobbits are an unobtrusive but very ancient people, more numerous formerly than they are today; for they love peace and quiet and good tilled earth: a well-ordered and well-farmed countryside was their favourite haunt.
They say it is the first step that costs the effort. I do not find it so. I am sure I could write unlimited 'first chapters'. I have indeed written many.
The original 'Hobbit' was never intended to have a sequel - Bilbo 'remained very happy to the end of his days and those were extraordinarily long': a sentence I find an almost insuperable obstacle to a satisfactory link.
A pen is to me as a beak is to a hen.
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