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J. R. R. Tolkien Quotes

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Famous J. R. R. Tolkien Quotes

“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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“So, though there was still some store of weapons in the Shire, these were used mostly as trophies, hanging above hearths or on walls, or gathered into the museum at Michel Delving. The Mathom-house it was called; for anything that Hobbits had no immediate use for, but were unwilling to throw away, they called a mathom. Their dwellings were apt to become rather crowded with mathoms, and many of the presents that passed from hand to hand were of that sort.”

StillsUseHandsUsedHouseWallWeaponsStoresMuseumsCrowdedDwellingUnwillingTrophiesShireDelving
Book:The Lord of the Rings: One Volume
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“Those were happier days, when there was still close friendship at times between folk of different race, even between Dwarves and Elves.' It was not the fault of the Dwarves that the friendship waned,' said Gimli. I have not heard that it was the fault of the Elves,' said Legolas. I have heard both,' said Gandalf[.]”

SaidStillsDifferentRaceHeardFaultsFolksDwarvesDifferent RacesHappier DaysClose FriendshipGimli
Book:The Lord of the Rings: One Volume
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“In one thing you have not changed, dear friend," said Aragorn: "you still speak in riddles." "What? In riddles?" said Gandalf. "No! For I was talking aloud to myself. A habit of the old: they choose the wisest person present to speak to; the long explanations needed by the young are wearying.”

PersonsLongSaidStillsYoungSpeakTalkingOne ThingChangedNeededHabitDearExplanationWisestRiddleDear Friend
Book:The Two Towers: Being the Second Part of The Lord of the Rings
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“Ho! Ho! Ho! To the bottle I go To heal my heart and drown my woe Rain may fall, and wind may blow And many miles be still to go But under a tall tree will I lie And let the clouds go sailing by”

HeartMayStillsLyingFallTreeWindMy HeartRainDrinkingCloudsBlowAlcoholMilesHealTallBottlesSailingWoeLiquorFunny DrinkingDrinking FunnyTall Trees
Book:The Fellowship of the Ring: Being the First Part of The Lord of the Rings
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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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“The dragon is withered, His bones are now crumbled; His armour is shivered, His splendour is humbled! Though sword shall be rusted, And throne and crown perish With strength that men trusted And wealth that they cherish, Here grass is still growing, And leaves are yet swinging, The white water flowing, And elves are yet singing Come! Tra-la-la-lally! Come back to the valley!”

MenStillsWaterWealthWhiteGrowingSingingBonesGrassDragonsCherishValleysTrustedCrownsThronesWitheredArmourSplendourWhite Water
Book:The Hobbit
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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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“And still Meriadoc the hobbit stood there blinking through his tears, and no one spoke to him, indeed none seemed to heed him. He brushed away the tears, and stooped to pick up the green shield that Eowyn had given him, and he slung it at his back. Then he looked for his sword that he had let fall; for even as he struck his blow his arm was numbed, and now he could only use his left hand.”

StillsUseHandsFallLeftGivenTearsArmsPicksGreenBlowSpokesShieldsHeedLeft HandEowyn
Book:The Return of the King: Being the Third Part of the Lord of the Rings
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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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“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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“Dear me! We Tooks and Brandybucks, we can't live long on the heights.' 'No,' said Merry. 'I can't. Not yet, at any rate. But at least, Pippin, we can now see them, and honour them. It is best to love first what you are fitted to love, I suppose: you must start somewhere and have some roots, and the soil of the Shire is deep. Still there are things deeper and higher; and not a gaffer could tend his garden in what he calls peace but for them, whether he knows about them or not.”

KnowsFirstsLongSaidStillsI CanHigherGardenRootsRateDearDeeperHeightSoilHonourMerryPippinShireDear Me
Book:The Lord of the Rings: One Volume
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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.”

MenWorldMindMadeStillsLightMovingLawUsedHouseDarkWhiteShapesFilledCreatorSeedsDragonsHueMisusedGoblin
Author:J. R. R. Tolkien
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“Thus Aragorn for the first time in the full light of day beheld Éowyn, Lady of Rohan, and thought her fair, fair and cold, like a morning of pale spring that is not yet come to womanhood. And she was now suddenly aware of him: tall heir of kings, wise with many winters, greycloaked, hiding a power that yet she felt. For a moment still as stone she stood, then turning swiftly she was gone.”

FirstsStillsMomentsLightFeltMorningGoneWiseColdKingsSpringFirst TimeFairsStonesWinterTallHidingPaleWomanhoodHeirsEowynRohan
Book:The Two Towers: Being the Second Part of The Lord of the Rings
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“Then, Éowyn of Rohan, I say to you that you are beautiful. In the valleys of our hills there are flowers fair and bright, and maidens fairer still; but neither flower nor lady have I seen till now in Gondor so lovely, and so sorrowful. It may be that only a few days are left ere darkness falls upon our world, and when it comes I hope to face it steadily; but it would ease my heart, if while the Sun yet shines, I could see you still. For you and I have both passed under the wings of the Shadow, and the same hand drew us back.”

IfsWorldHeartMayStillsHandsBeautifulFacesFallLeftDarknessSunFlowerMy HeartShadowFairsWingsShiningLovelyHillsEaseOur WorldValleysMaidensSorrowfulYou Are BeautifulGondorRohan
Author:J. R. R. Tolkien
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“Is it not a strange fate that we should suffer so much fear and doubt for so small a thing? So small a thing! And I have seen it only for an instant in the house of Elrond! Could I not have a sight of it again?" Frodo looked up. His heart went suddenly cold. He caught the strange gleam in Boromir's eyes, yet his face was still kind and friendly. "It is best that it should lie hidden," he answered. "As you wish. I care not." said Boromir.”

ShouldHeartKindSaidStillsEyeCareFacesLyingSufferingHouseWishDoubtFateStrangeColdSightCaughtInstantFriendlyI CareGleamFrodoElrond
Author:J. R. R. Tolkien
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“Upon the hearth the fire is red, Beneath the roof there is a bed; But not yet weary are our feet, Still round the corner we may meet A sudden tree or standing stone That none have seen but we alone. Tree and flower and leaf and grass, Let them pass! Let them pass!”

MayStillsFireTreeFeetFlowerBedRedStandingStonesRoundsCornersGrassRoofWearyLeafs
Book:The Fellowship of the Ring: Being the First Part of The Lord of the Rings
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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.”

HeartStillsHandsLyingDiesStarsBlackDarkSleepLordSunFailingSeaLandWindColdBedMoonStonesGoldBonesLiftsWithered
Book:The Fellowship of the Ring: Being the First Part of The Lord of the Rings
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“We are truth-speakers, we men of Gondor. We boast seldom, and then perform, or die in the attempt. "Not if I found it on the highway would I take it," I said. Even if I were such a man as to desire this thing, and even though I knew not clearly what this thing was when I spoke, still I should take those words as a vow, and be held by them.”

IfsMenShouldSaidStillsDesireDiesFoundSpokesSpeakersBoastHighwaysVowGondorFaramir
Book:The Lord of the Rings: One Volume
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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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“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.”

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Book:The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien
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“The rule of no realm is mine. But all worthy things that are in peril as the world now stands, those are my care. And for my part, I shall not wholly fail in my task if anything that passes through this night can still grow fairer or bear fruit and flower again in days to come. For I too am a steward. Did you not know?”

IfsKnowsWorldStillsInspirationCareNightGrowsCourageFailingMinesFlowerBearsTasksFruitWorthyRealmsPerilStewardsDays To ComeWorthy Things
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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