Quotes by J.R.R. Tolkien

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

“Faithless is he that says farewell when the road darkens.”

“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, or of the kinds of writing that they evidently prefer.”

“He who breaks a thing to find out what it is, has left the path of wisdom.”

“There at last when the mallorn leaves were falling, but spring had not yet come, she laid herself to rest upon Cerin Amroth; and there is her green grave, until the world is changed, and all the days of her life are utterly forgotten by men that come after, and elanor and niphredil bloom no more east of the Sea.”

“Its like things are in the world. Hopes fail. An end comes. We have only a little time to wait now.”

“He wondered what the mans name was and where he came from; and if he was really evil at heart, or what lies or threats had lead him on the long march from his home; and if he would not really have rather stayed there in peace”

““But that’s not the way of it with the tales that really mattered, or the ones that stay in the mind. Folk seem to have just landed in them, usually - their paths were laid that way, as you put it. But I expect they had lots of chances, like us, of turning back, only they didn’t. And if they had, we shouldn’t know, because they’d have been forgotten. We hear about those as just went on - and not all to a good end, mind you; at least not to what folk inside a story and not outside it call a good end””

“What do you fear my lady? A cage. To stay behind bars until use and old age accept them and all chance of valor has gone beyond beyond recall or desire.”

“His house was perfect, whether you liked food, or sleep, or work, or story-telling, or singing, or just sitting and thinking, best, or a pleasant mixture of them all.”

“It must often be so, Sam, when things are in danger: someone has to give them up, lose them, so that others may keep them.”

“The wolf that one hears is worse than the orc that one fears.”

“The burned hand teaches best.”

“So comes snow after fire, and even dragons have their ending.”

“It does not do to leave a live dragon out of your calculations, if you live near him.”

“Do not meddle in the affairs of Wizards, for they are subtle and quick to anger.”

“Go not to the elves for counsel, for they will say both yes and no.”

“For she is a fair maiden, fairest lady of a house of queens. And yet I know not how I should speak of her. When I first looked on her and perceived her unhappiness, it seemed to me that I saw a white flower standing straight and proud, shapely as a lily, and yet knew that it was hard, as if wrought by elf-wrights out of steel. Or was it, maybe, a frost that had turned its sap to ice, and so it stood, bitter-sweet, still fair to see, but stricken, soon to fall and die?”

“Deep roots are not reached by frost.”

“Let him not vow to walk in the dark, who has not seen the darkness fall.”