Short cuts make long delays.

For a while the hobbits continued to talk and think of the past journey and of the perils that lay ahead; but such was the virtue of the land of Rivendell that soon all fear...

Ho! Ho! Ho! To the bottle I goTo heal my heart and drown my woeRain may fall, and wind may blowAnd many miles be still to goBut under a tall tree will I lieAnd let...

Go back?” he thought. “No good at all! Go sideways? Impossible! Go forward? Only thing to do! On we go!

In te c’è più di quanto tu non sappia, figlio dell’Occidente cortese. Coraggio e saggezza, in giusta misura mischiati. Se un maggior numero di noi stimasse cibo, allegria e canzoni al di sopra dei tesori...

Far more often [than asking the question ‘Is it true?’] they [children] have asked me: ‘Was he good? Was he wicked?’ That is, they were far more concerned to get the Right side and the...

Faerie is a perilous land, and in it are pitfalls for the unwary and dungeons for the overbold…The realm of fairy-story is wide and deep and high and filled with many things: all manner of...

And here he was, a little halfling from the Shire, a simple hobbit of the quiet countryside, expected to find a way where the great ones could not go, or dared not go. It was...

I’m sorry, Pippin, but you really must wait till the morning. I’ll be as curious as you like after breakfast, and I’ll help you in any way I can at wizard-wheedling. But I can’t keep...

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;...

I feel thin, sort of stretched, like butter scraped over too much bread.

There is no curse in Elvish, Entish, or the tongues of Men for this treachery.

A star shone at the hour of our meeting.

N-nothing important. That is, I heard a good deal about a ring, and a dark lord, and something about the end of the world, but please, Mr. Gandalf, sir, don’t hurt me. Don’t turn me...

Grey as a mouse,Big as a house,Nose like a snake,I make the earth shake,As I tramp through the grass;Trees crack as I pass.With horns in my mouthI walk in the South,Flapping big ears.Beyond count of...

End? No, the journey doesn’t end here. Death is just another path. One that we all must take.

I perceived or thought of the Light of God and in it suspended one small mote (or millions of motes to only one of which was my small mind directed), glittering white because of the...

The world is full enough of hurts and mischances without wars to multiply them.

In this Music [the singing of the angels in harmony] the World was begun; for Iluvatar made visible the song of the Ainur,and they beheld it as a light in the darkness.

It’s like in the great stories, Mr. Frodo. The ones that really mattered, full of darkness and danger they were. Sometimes you didn’t want to know the end, because how could the end be happy....

I’ll get there, if I leave everything but my bones behind,” said Sam. “And I’ll carry Mr. Frodo up myself, if it breaks my back and heart.

It seemed like all the way to tomorrow and over it to the days beyond.

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

I suppose hobbits need some description nowadays, since they have become rare and shy of the Big People, as they call us. They are (or were) a little people, about half our height, and smaller...

Slowly the lights of the torches in front of Merry flicked and went out, and he was walking in a darkness; and he thought: ‘This is a tunnel leading to a tomb; there we shall...

In the spring when the wind is in the new leaves the echo of her voice may still be heard by the fall that bear her name.

What a pity that Bilbo did not stab that vile creature, when he had a chance!’Pity? It was Pity that stayed his hand. Pity, and Mercy: not to strike without need. And he has been...

You can only come to the morning through the shadows.

It is the job that is never started that takes longest to finish.

A new road or a secret gate.

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...

I do not know what is happening. The reason of my waking mind tells me that great evil has befallen and we stand at the end of days. But my heart says nay; and all...

What do you fear, lady?” [Aragorn] asked. “A cage,” [Éowyn] said. “To stay behind bars, until use and old age accept them, and all chance of doing great deeds is gone beyond recall or desire.

Elvish singing is not a thing to miss, in June under the stars, not if you care for such things.

Ce n’était pas un trou déplaisant, sale et humide, rempli de bouts de vers et d’une atmosphère suintante, non plus qu’un trou sec, nu, sablonneux, sans rien pour s’asseoir ni sur quoi manger : c’était...

For the rest, they shall represent the other Free Peoples of the World: Elves, Dwarves, and Men, Legolas shall be for the Elves; and Gimli son of Gloin for the Dwarves. They are willing to...

Why must you speak your thoughts? Silence, if fair words stick in your throat, would serve all our ends better.

They hammered on the outer gate and called, but there was at first no answer; and then to their surprise someone blew a horn, and the lights in the windows went out. A voice shouted...

Master of the Dark Shadow. For I also, Niniel, had my darkness, in which dear things were lost; but now I have overcome it, I deem.

Little by little, one travels far

So do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.

Frodo gave a cry, and there was, fallen upon his knees at the chasm’s edge. But Gollum, dancing like a mad thing, held aloft the ring, a finger still thrust within its circle. “Precious, precious,...

There is nothing like looking, if you want to find something. You certainly usually find something, if you look, but it is not always quite the something you were after.

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.

Indeed if fish had fish-lore and Wise-fish, it is probable that the business of anglers would be very little hindered.

Far over the misty mountains coldTo dungeons deep and caverns oldWe must away ere break of dayTo seek the pale enchanted gold.The dwarves of yore made mighty spells,While hammers fell like ringing bellsIn places deep,...

Far over the Great River, and the Brown Lands, leagues upon grey leagues away, the dawn came, red as flame. Loud rang the hunting horns to greet it. The Riders of Rohan sprang suddenly to...

Not all those who wander are lost…

Children are meant to grow up, and not to become Peter Pans. Not to lose innocence and wonder, but to proceed on the appointed journey: that journey upon which it is certainly not better to...

I will not say, do not weep, for not all tears are an evil.