J. R. R. Tolkien Quotes

If more of us valued food and cheer and song above hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world.

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.

Not all those who wander are lost.

Above all shadows rides the sun.

Go not to the Elves for counsel, for they will say both no and yes.

Don’t go getting mixed up in the business of your betters, or you’ll land in trouble too big for you.

I dislike Allegory – the conscious and intentional allegory – yet any attempt to explain the purport of myth or fairytale must use allegorical language.

All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.

Maybe the paths that you each shall tread are already laid before your feet though you do not see them

The birth, death, and resurrection of Jesus means that one day everything sad will come untrue.

I don’t like allegories.

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.

Myth and fairy-story must, as all art, reflect and contain in solution elements of moral and religious truth (or error), but not explicit, not in the known form of the primary ‘real’ world.

The greatest adventure is what lies ahead.
Today and tomorrow are yet to be said.
The chances, the changes are all yours to make.
The mold of your life is in your hands to break.