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J. R. R. Tolkien Quotes

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Famous J. R. R. Tolkien Quotes

“Three Rings for the Elven-kings under the sky, Seven for the Dwarf-lords in halls of stone, Nine for Mortal Men, doomed to die, One for the Dark Lord on his dark throne In the Land of Mordor where the Shadows lie. One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them, One Ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them. In the Land of Mordor where the Shadows lie.”

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Author:J. R. R. Tolkien
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“There, peeping among the cloud-wrack above a dark tower high up in the mountains, Sam saw a white star twinkle for a while. The beauty of it smote his heart, as he looked up out of the forsaken land, and hope returned to him. For like a shaft, clear and cold, the thought pierced him that in the end the Shadow was only a small and passing thing: there was light and high beauty for ever beyond its reach.”

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Book:The Lord of the Rings: The return of the King
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“Under the Mountain dark and tall The King has come unto his hall! His foe is dead, the Worm of Dread, And ever so his foes shall fall. The sword is sharp, the spear is long, The arrow swift, the Gate is strong; The heart is bold that looks on gold; The dwarves no more shall suffer wrong. The dwarves of yore made mighty spells, While hammers fells like ringing bells In places deep, where dark things sleep, In hollow halls beneath the fells. -from The Hobbit (Dwarves Battle Song)”

LooksHeartLongMadeSufferingSongFallStrongDarkSleepKingsBattleMountainGoldGatesHallsTallSpellsBellsDreadWormsFoeHammersHollowArrowsSpearsDwarvesDark Things
Author:J. R. R. Tolkien
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“But fear no more! I would not take this thing, if it lay by the highway. Not were Minas Tirith falling in ruin and I alone could save her, so, using the weapon of the Dark Lord for her good and my glory. No, I do not wish for such triumphs, Frodo son of Drogo.”

IfsFallWishDarkLordSonWeaponsGloryLaysRuinsTriumphHighwaysChivalryFrodoFaramir
Book:The Two Towers: Being the Second Part of The Lord of the Rings
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“But Sauron was not of mortal flesh, and though he was robbed now of that shape in which had wrought so great an evil, so that he could never again appear fair to the eyes of Men, yet his spirit arose out of the deep and passed as a shadow and a black wind over the sea, and came back to Middle-earth and to Mordor that was his home. There he took up again his great Ring in Barad-dur, and dwelt there, dark and silent, until he wrought himself a new guise, an image of malice and hatred made visible; and the Eye of Sauron the Terrible few could endure.”

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Author:J. R. R. Tolkien
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“No taste of food, no feel of water, no sound of wind, no memory of tree or grass or flower, no image of moon or star are left to me. I am naked in the dark, Sam, and there is no veil between me and the wheel of fire. I begin to see it even with my waking eyes, and all else fades.”

FeelsEyeLeftStarsSoundWaterMemoriesDarkFireTreeWindFlowerTasteMoonNakedGrassWheelsWakingFadesVeilsFrodoNo MemoryFrodo Baggins
Book:The Return of the King: Being the Third Part of the Lord of the Rings
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“There was a little corner of his mind that was still his own, and light came through it, as though a chink in the dark: light out of the past. It was actually pleasant, I think, to hear a kindly voice agin, bringing up memories of wind, and trees, and sun on the grass, and such forgotten things.”

ThinkingMindLittlesStillsLightPastVoiceMemoriesDarkSunTreeWindForgottenCornersGrassPleasantChinksForgotten Things
Book:The Fellowship of the Ring: Being the First Part of The Lord of the Rings
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“You are a set of deceitful scoundrels! But bless you! I give in. I will take Gildor's advice. If the danger were not so dark, I should dance for joy. Even so, I cannot help feeling happy; happier than I have felt for a long time.”

IfsGivingShouldLongHelpingFeelingsJoyLyingFeltDarkAdviceDangerLong TimeDeceitBlessScoundrelsDeceitfulFeeling Happy
Book:The Fellowship of the Ring: Being the First Part of The Lord of the Rings
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“Man, Sub-creator, the refracted light through whom is splintered from a single White to many hues, and endlessly combined in living shapes that move from mind to mind. Though all the crannies of the world we filled with Elves and Goblins, though we dared to build Gods and their houses out of dark and light, and sowed the seed of dragons, 'twas our right (used or misused). The right has not decayed. We make still by the law in which we're made.”

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Author:J. R. R. Tolkien
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“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 in the dark: 'Who's that? Be off! You can't come in. Can't you read the notice: No admittance between sundown and sunrise?' 'Of course we can't read the notice in the dark,' Sam shouted back. 'And if hobbits of the Shire are to be kept out in the wet on a night like this, I'll tear down your notice when I find it.”

IfsFirstsLightNightCoursesVoiceDarkAnswersTearsWindowSurpriseGatesWetSunriseHornsHammeredShireAdmittance
Book:The Lord of the Rings: The return of the King
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“And now at last it comes. You will give me the Ring freely! In place of the Dark Lord you will set up a Queen. And I shall not be dark, but beautiful and terrible as the Morning and the Night! Fair as the Sea and the Sun and the Snow upon the Mountain! Dreadful as the Storm and the Lightning! Stronger than the foundations of the earth. All shall love me and despair!”

GivingEarthLastsBeautifulNightDarkLordMorningSunSeaTerribleMountainDespairFairsGive MeStrongerFoundationStormRingsSnowQueensLightningGaladriel
Author:J. R. R. Tolkien
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“Gandalf: Confound it all, Samwise Gamgee. Have you been eavesdropping? Sam: I ain't been droppin' no eaves sir, honest. I was just cutting the grass under the window there, if you'll follow me. Gandalf: A little late for trimming the verge, don't you think? Sam: I heard raised voices. Gandalf: What did you hear? Speak. Sam: 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 into anything... unnatural.”

IfsThinkingWorldLittlesImportantEndsTurnsSpeakVoiceHurtDarkDealsLordCuttingHeardHonestPleaseLateWindowRaisedRingsGrassEnd Of The WorldFellowshipUnnaturalHurt MeFollow MeVergeTurn MeFellowship Of The RingLord Of The RingEavesdroppingTrimmingSamwiseSamwise GamgeeDon't Hurt Me
Author:J. R. R. Tolkien
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“Cold be hand and heart and bone, and cold be sleep under stone: never more to wake on stony bed, never, till the Sun fails and the Moon is dead. In the black wind the stars shall die, and still on gold here let them lie, till the dark lord lifts his hand over dead sea and withered land.”

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Book:The Fellowship of the Ring: Being the First Part of The Lord of the Rings
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“Far over the Misty Mountains cold, To dungeons deep and caverns old, We must away, ere break of day, To seek our pale enchanted gold. The dwarves of yore made mighty spells, While hammers fell like ringing bells, In places deep, where dark things sleep, In hollow halls beneath the fells. The pines were roaring on the heights, The wind was moaning in the night, The fire was red, it flaming spread, The trees like torches blazed with light.”

MadeLightNightDarkSleepBreakFireTreeWindColdMountainRedGoldSpreadHeightHallsSpellsBellsPaleHammersHollowTorchesEnchantedRoaringDungeonsDwarvesMistyMoaningCavernsDark ThingsMisty Mountains
Author:J. R. R. Tolkien
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“Torment in the dark was the danger that I feared, and it did not hold me back. But I would not have come, had I known the danger of light and joy. Now I have taken my worst wound in this parting, even if I were to go this night straight to the Dark Lord. Alas for Gimli son of Glóin!”

IfsLightJoyNightDarkKnownLordTakenWorstDangerSonWoundsTormentAlasPartingSaying GoodbyeHold MeGimli
Book:The Lord of the Rings: One Volume
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“Somehow the killing of the giant spider, all alone by himself in the dark without the help of the wizard or the dwarves or of anyone else, made a great difference to Mr. Baggins. He felt a different person, and much fiercer and bolder in spite of an empty stomach, as he wiped his sword on the grass and put it back into its sheath.”

PersonsMadeDifferentHelpingFeltDifferencesDarkEmptyKillingGrassGiantsSpiteStomachSpidersWizardsAll AloneDwarvesEmpty StomachGreat Hobbit
Book:The Hobbit
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“Great engines crawled across the field; and in the midst was a huge ram, great as a forest-tree a hundred feet in length, swinging on mighty chains. Long had it been forging in the dark smithies of Mordor, and its hideous head, founded of black steel, was shaped in the likeness of a ravening wolf; on it spells of ruin lay. Grond they named it, in memory of the Hammer of the Underworld of old. Great beasts drew it, orcs surrounded it, and behind walked mountain-trolls to wield it.”

LongBlackMemoriesDarkBehindsTreeFeetFieldsHugeMountainHundredLaysForestsRuinsChainsBeastMidstLengthSpellsEnginesSteelHammersHideousUnderworldTrollRamsForgingOrcsMordor
Book:The Return of the King: Being the Third Part of the Lord of the Rings
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“One writes such a story [The Lord of the Rings] not out of the leaves of trees still to be observed, nor by means of botany and soil-science; but it grows like a seed in the dark out of the leaf-mold of the mind: out of all that has been seen or thought or read, that has long ago been forgotten, descending into the deeps. No doubt there is much personal selection, as with a gardener: what one throws on one's personal compost-heap; and my mold is evidently made largely of linguistic matter.”

WritingMindMeanLongHas BeensMadeStillsMatterStoriesGrowsDarkLordDoubtTreeForgottenSeedsRingsSoilNo DoubtLong AgoLeafsSelectionGardenerMoldDescendingCompostBotany
Author:J. R. R. Tolkien
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“She lifted up her hand and from the ring that she wore there issued a great light that illuminated her alone and left all else dark. She stood before Frodo seeming now tall beyond measurement, and beautiful beyond enduring, terrible and worshipful. Then she let her hand fall, and the light faded, and suddenly she laughed again, and lo! she was shrunken: a slender elf-woman, clad in simple white whose gentle voice was soft and sad.”

HandsLightBeautifulFallLeftVoiceDarkSimpleWhiteTerribleLaughterEndureRingsGentleTallLaughedMeasurementSeemingFadedSlenderFrodoGaladriel
Author:J. R. R. Tolkien
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“"We will make such a chase as shall be accounted a marvel among the Three Kindreds: Elves, Dwarves and Men. Forth the Three Hunters!" Like a deer he sprang away. Through the trees he sped. On and on he led them, tireless and swift, now that his mind was at last made up. The woods about the lake they left behind. Long slopes they climbed, dark, hard-edged against the sky already red with sunset. They passed away, grey shadows in a stony land.”

MenMindLongMadeHardLastsThreeLeftDarkBehindsTreeSkyLandShadowRedWoodsSunsetLakesGreyHuntersLeft BehindDeerPassed AwaySlopesKindredDwarvesSped
Book:The Lord of the Rings: One Volume
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“Smaug certainly looked asleep, almost dead and dark, with scarcely a snore more than a whiff of unseen steam, when Bilbo peeped once more from the entrance. He was just about to step out onto the floor when he caught a sudden thin ray of red from under the drooping lid of Smaug's left eye. He was only pretending to sleep! He was watching the tunnel entrance!”

EyeLeftDarkSleepStepsRedCaughtDragonsPretendingRaysUnseenTunnelsSteamEntrancesLeft Eye
Author:J. R. R. Tolkien
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“And you, Ringbearer' she said, turning to Frodo. 'I come to you last who are not last in my thoughts. For you I have prepared this.' She held up a small crystal phial: it glittered as she moved it and rays of white light sprang from her hand. 'In this phial,' she said,' is caught the light of Earendil's star, set amid the waters of my fountain. It will shine still brighter when night is about you. May it be a light to you in dark places, when all other lights go out. Frodo took the phial, and for a moment as it shone between them, he saw her again standing like a queen, great and beautiful.”

MaySaidStillsMomentsHandsLightLastsBeautifulNightStarsWaterDarkWhiteSawsStandingMovedShiningPreparedCaughtQueensRaysMy ThoughtsFountainCrystalsBrighterDark PlacesFrodoWhite LightGaladriel
Book:The Fellowship of the Ring: Being the First Part of The Lord of the Rings
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