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J. R. R. Tolkien Quotes

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Famous J. R. R. Tolkien Quotes

“The news today about 'Atomic bombs' is so horrifying one is stunned. The utter folly of these lunatic physicists to consent to do such work for war-purposes: calmly plotting the destruction of the world! Such explosives in men's hands, while their moral and intellectual status is declining, is about as useful as giving out firearms to all inmates of a gaol and then saying that you hope 'this will ensure peace'. But one good thing may arise out of it, I suppose, if the write-ups are not overheated: Japan ought to cave in. Well we're in God's hands. But He does not look kindly on Babel-builders.”

IfsMenWorldGivingWritingWellsLooksMayDoeWarHandsTodayPurposeMoralOughtNewsIntellectualDestructionGood ThingsAriseFollyBombsJapanConsentCavesPhysicistLunaticBuilderFirearmsExplosivesAtomic BombStunnedInmatesBabel
Author:J. R. R. Tolkien
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“The mind that thought of light, heavy, grey, yellow, still, swift, also conceived of magic that would make heavy things light and able to fly, turn grey lead into yellow gold, and the still rock into a swift water. If it could do the one, it could do the other; it inevitably did both. When we can take green from grass, blue from heaven, and red from blood, we have already an enchanter's power.”

IfsMindStillsLightAbleTurnsHeavenWaterPowerfulMagicBloodRocksRedGoldBlueGreenHeavyInventionGrassFacultyYellowGreyAdjectivesHeavy Things
Author:J. R. R. Tolkien
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“If your first Christmas tree is a wilting eucalyptus and if you're normally troubled by heat and sand... then, to have just at the age when imagination is opening out, suddenly find yourself in a quiet Warwickshire village, I think it engenders a particular love of what you might call central Midlands English countryside. Based on good water, stones and elm trees and small quiet rivers and so on, and of course, rustic people about.”

PeopleIfsThinkingFirstsMightAgeCoursesWaterImaginationTreeParticularQuietRiversStonesOpeningHeatSandFinding YourselfVillageCountrysideChristmas TreeRusticWiltingEnglish CountrysideElm Trees
Author:J. R. R. Tolkien
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“If more of us valued food and cheer and song above hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world.”

IfsWorldLifeWould BeEarthHappinessJoySongChangeWealthMoneyMusicHuman NatureFoodWise WordsGratitudeEatingGoldCookingGreedAppreciationUpliftingChanging The WorldCulinaryCheerEpicGodlyRecipesDiningChildren's BooksCheer UpHoardingFood And DrinkHealthy FoodHealthy EatingEating FoodFood And EatingTastyChildren BookGreat FoodMiddle EarthDelicious FoodHome CookingLearn To AppreciateFavorite FoodsBest FoodGourmet FoodEating WellHunger For FoodCulinary LoveGreat HobbitEating Healthy FoodValued FriendsMore The MerrierThorin
Book:The Hobbit
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“I have claimed that Escape is one of the main functions of fairy-stories, and since I do not disapprove of them, it is plain that I do not accept the tone of scorn or pity with which 'Escape' is now so often used. Why should a man be scorned if, finding himself in prison, he tries to get out and go home? Or if he cannot do so, he thinks and talks about other topics than jailers and prison-walls?”

IfsThinkingMenShouldTryingStoriesHomeUsedAcceptingWallFindingsFunctionPrisonPityToneFairyTopicsScornEscapismScornedFairy StoriesJailerPrison WallsFantasy StoriesFiction Stories
Author:J. R. R. Tolkien
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“Fairy tale does not deny the existence of sorrow and failure: the possibility of these is necessary to the joy of deliverance. It denies (in the face of much evidence, if you will) universal final defeat...giving a fleeting glimpse of Joy; Joy beyond the walls of the world, poignant as grief.”

IfsWorldGivingDoeFacesJoyGriefExistencePossibilityWallSorrowEvidenceUniversalFinalsDefeatDenyTalesFairyFairy TaleGlimpseFleetingDeliverancePoignant
Author:J. R. R. Tolkien
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“If thou hadst thy will what wouldst thou reserve?" said Manwe. "Of all thy realm what dost thou hold dearest?" All have their worth," said Yavanna, "and each contributes to the worth of the others. But the kelvar can flee or defend themselves, whereas the olvar that grow cannot. And among these I hold trees dear. Long in the growing, swift shall they be in the felling, and unless they pay toll with fruit upon their bough little mourned in their passing. So I see in my thought, would that the trees might speak on behalf of all things that have roots, and punish those that wrong them!”

IfsLittlesLongSaidMightSpeakGrowsPayGrowingTreeAll ThingsRootsFruitDearPassingPassingsRealmsReservesMy ThoughtsBehalfTolls
Book:The Silmarillion
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“The eyes were hollow and the carven head was broken, but about the high, stern forehead there was a coronal of silver and gold. A trailing plant with flowers like white stars had bound itself across the brows as if in reverence for the fallen king, and in the crevices of his stony hair yellow stonecrop gleamed. "They cannot conquer for ever!" said Frodo.”

IfsSaidEyeStarsWhiteFlowerHairBrokenKingsGoldPlantBoundsConquerFallenSilverYellowReverenceHollowForeheadsBrowsFrodoCrevice
Author:J. R. R. Tolkien
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“Still, I wonder if we shall ever be put into songs or tales. We're in one, of course; but I mean: put into words, you know, told by the fireside, or read out loud of a great big book with red and black letters, years and years afterwards. And people will say: 'Let's hear about Frodo and the Ring' and they'll say 'Oh yes, that's one of my favorite stories.”

PeopleIfsKnowsYearsMeanStillsBookStoriesBigsSongCoursesBlackWonderRedLettersMy FavoriteRingsTalesLoudFrodoTwo TowersBig BookSamwiseRed And Black
Author:J. R. R. Tolkien
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“For I am Saruman the Wise, Saruman Ring-maker, Saruman of Many Colours!' I looked then and saw that his robes, which had seemed white, were not so, but were woven of all colours, and if he moved they shimmered and changed hue so that the eye was bewildered. I liked white better,' I said. White!' he sneered. 'It serves as a beginning. White cloth may be dyed. The white page can be overwritten; and the white light can be broken.' In which case it is no longer white,' said I. 'And he that breaks a thing to find out what it is has left the path of wisdom.' - Gandalf”

IfsMaySaidLightEyeLeftWhiteBreakCasesPathSawsWiseChangedBrokenPagesMovedRingsColourMakersWovenRobesHueBewilderedWhite LightSaruman
Book:The Lord of the Rings: One Volume
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“It's a dangerous business, Frodo, going out your door. You step onto the road, and if you don't keep your feet, there's no knowing where you might be swept off to.”

IfsLifeWisdomMightLordStepsKnowingWiseDoorsFeetMiddleDangerousAdventureTravelRingsWanderTime TravelFavouriteGoing OutTraveledTravelerFellowshipAdventurousBeing WiseGreat TravelInspiring TravelLife Is An AdventurePhotography And TravelFrodoInspirational AdventureRoads TraveledGreat AdventureLife AdventureAdventure And LifeFellowship Of The RingMiddle EarthRoads And JourneysNext AdventureInspirational Adventure TimeFrodo BagginsLord Of The RingTravel BugFunny AdventureRoad LifeFeet And TravelTravel And LoveGreat OutdoorsMost WiseGoing On An AdventureLove Adventure
Book:The Fellowship of the Ring: Being the First Part of The Lord of the Rings
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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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“Shadowfax tossed his head and cried aloud, as if a trumpet had summoned him to battle. Then he sprang forward. Fire flew from his feet; night rushed over him. As he fell slowly into sleep, Pippin had a strange feeling: he and Gandalf were still as stone, seated upon the statue of a running horse, while the world rolled away beneath his feet with a great noise of wind.”

IfsWorldStillsFeelingsRunningNightSleepFireFeetStrangeWindBattleStonesHorseNoiseCriedStatuesFlewTrumpetsPippin
Book:The Lord of the Rings: One Volume
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“In that hour of trial it was the love of his master that helped most to hold him firm; but also deep down in him lived still unconquered his plain hobbit-sense: he knew in the core of his heart that he was not large enough to bear such a burden, even if such visions were not a mere cheat to betray him.”

IfsHeartStillsEnoughHoursVisionMastersBearsMereBurdenCoreTrialsFirmBetrayCheatDeep Down
Book:The Return of the King: Being the Third Part of the Lord of the Rings
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“If you have ever seen a dragon in a pinch, you will realize that this was only poetical exaggeration applied to any hobbit, even to Old Took's great-granduncle Bullroarer, who was so huge (for a hobbit) that he could ride a horse. He charged the ranks of the goblins of Mount Gram in the Battle of the Green Fields, and knocked their king Golfibul's head clean off with a wooden club. It sailed a hundred yards through the air and went down a rabbit-hole, and in this way the battle was won and the game of Golf was invented at the same moment.”

IfsWayMomentsGamesRealizingAirFieldsHugeKingsBattleHundredHorseGreenCleanGolfClubsHolesDragonsYardsRabbitsExaggerationGoblinRabbit HolesGreen Fields
Book:The Hobbit
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“A great dread fell on him, as if he was awaiting the pronouncement of some doom that he had long foreseen and vainly hoped might after all never be spoken. An overwhelming longing to rest and remain at peace by Bilbo's side in Rivendell filled all his heart. At last with an effort he spoke, and wondered to hear his own words, as if some other will was using his small voice. "I will take the Ring," he said, "though I do not know the way.”

IfsKnowsWayHeartLongSaidMightLastsSidesVoiceEffortFilledLongingRingsSpokesOverwhelmingDreadDoomFrodoSmall VoiceForeseen
Author:J. R. R. Tolkien
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“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!”

IfsGivingMayDoneJobsWishMastersQuietCreaturesGive MeForgivingDearManageSpotsGoodbyeFoulByeYou AgainGood Bye
Book:The Lord of the Rings part two the Two Towers
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“He used often to say there was only one Road; that it was like a great river: its springs were at every doorstep, and every path was its tributary. 'It's a dangerous business, Frodo, going out of your door,' he used to say. 'You step into the Road, and if you don't keep your feet, there is no knowing where you might be swept off to.”

IfsMightUsedStepsKnowingPathDoorsFeetDangerousSpringRiversRingsGoing OutDoorstepFrodoFellowship Of The RingMiddle EarthFrodo BagginsLord Of The Ring
Book:The Fellowship of the Ring: Being the First Part of The Lord of the Rings
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