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Roads go ever ever on, Over rock and under tree, By caves where never sun has shone, By streams that never find the sea; Over snow by winter sown, And through the merry flowers of June, Over grass and over stone, And under mountains of the moon. Roads go ever ever on Under cloud and under star, Yet feet that wandering have gone Turn at last to home afar. Eyes that fire and sword have seen And horror in the halls of stone Look at last on meadows green And trees and hills they long have known.
J. R. R. Tolkien -
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
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Saruman," I said, standing away from him, "only one hand at a time can weild the One, and you know that well, so do not trouble to say we!
J. R. R. Tolkien -
Dead men are not friends to living men, and give them no gifts.
J. R. R. Tolkien -
The whole thing is quite hopeless, so it's no good worrying about tomorrow. It probably won't come.
J. R. R. Tolkien -
There is some good in this world, and it's worth fighting for.
J. R. R. Tolkien -
No Victory Without Suffering.
J. R. R. Tolkien -
Farewell! O Gandalf! May you ever appear where you are most needed and least expected!
J. R. R. Tolkien
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Hammer and tongs! I am so torn between rage and joy, that if I do not burst, it will be a marvel!
J. R. R. Tolkien -
Then something Tookish woke up inside him, and he wished to go and see the great mountains, and hear the pine-trees and the waterfalls, and explore the caves, and wear a sword instead of a walking-stick.
J. R. R. Tolkien -
The world is full enough of hurts and mischances without wars to multiply them.
J. R. R. Tolkien -
But I have been too deeply hurt, Sam. I tried to save the Shire, and it has been saved, but not for me. It must often be so, Sam, when things are in danger: some one has to give them up, lose them, so that others may keep them.
J. R. R. Tolkien -
If this is victory, then our hands are too small to hold it.
J. R. R. Tolkien -
Goodbye, master, my dear! Forgive your Sam. He'll come back to this spot when the job's done - if he manages it. And then he'll not leave you again. Rest you quiet till I come; and may no foul creature come anigh you! And if the Lady could hear me and give me one wish, I would wish to come back and find you again. Good bye!
J. R. R. Tolkien
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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. I have not much hope that Gollum can be cured before he dies, but there is a chance of it. And he is bound up with the fate of the Ring. My heart tells me that he has some part to play yet, for good or ill, before the end; and when that comes, the pity of Bilbo may rule the fate of many - yours not least.
J. R. R. Tolkien -
Are you in pain, Frodo?' said Gandalf quietly as he rode by Frodo's side. 'Well, yes I am,' said Frodo. 'It is my shoulder. The wound aches, and the memory of darkness is heavy on me. It was a year ago today.' 'Alas! there are some wounds that cannot be wholly cured,' said Gandalf. 'I fear it may be so with mine,' said Frodo. 'There is no real going back. Though I may come to the Shire, it will not seem the same; for I shall not be the same. I am wounded with knife, sting, and tooth, and a long burden. Where shall I find rest?' Gandalf did not answer.
J. R. R. Tolkien -
The Resurrection is the eucatastrophe of the story of the Incarnation - This story begins and ends in joy.
J. R. R. Tolkien -
I remember nothing about it except a philological fact. My mother said nothing about the dragon, but pointed out that one could not say 'a green great dragon', but had to say 'a great green dragon'. I wondered why, and still do. The fact that I remember this is possibly significant, as I do not think I ever tried to write a story again for many years, and was taken up with language.
J. R. R. Tolkien -
All your words are but to say: you are a woman, and your part is in the house. But when the men have died in battle and honour, you have leave to be burned in the house, for the men will need it no more. But I am of the House of Erol and not a serving-woman. I can ride and wield blade, and I do not fear either pain or death.
J. R. R. Tolkien -
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
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I am a Christian…so that I do not expect ‘history’ to be anything but a ‘long defeat’ — though it contains (and in a legend may contain more clearly and movingly) some samples or glimpses of final victory.
J. R. R. Tolkien -
There cannot be any 'story' without a fall - all stories are ultimately about the fall - at least not for human minds as we know them and have them.
J. R. R. Tolkien -
At my age I'm exactly the kind of person who has lived through one of the most quickly changing periods known to history. Surely there could never be in seventy years so much change.
J. R. R. Tolkien -
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. Tolkien