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Quote by J.R.R. Tolkien

“For you are the heir of the ages. You have not to grope after the dazzling brilliance of invention of the free adjective, to which all human language has not yet fully attained. You may say green sun or dead life and set the imagination leaping. Language has both strengthened imagination and been freed by it. Who shall say whether the free adjective has created images bizarre and beautiful, or the adjective been freed by strange and beautiful pictures in the mind?”

Quote by J.R.R. Tolkien

Book:The Monsters and the Critics and Other Essays
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The Monsters and the Critics and Other Essays

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J.R.R. Tolkien

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“In Faërie one can indeed conceive of an ogre who possesses a castle hideous as a nightmare (for the evil of the ogre wills it so), but one cannot conceive of a house built with a good purpose – an inn, a hostel for travellers, the hall of a virtuous and noble king – that is yet sickeningly ugly. At the present day it would be rash to hope to see one that was not – unless it was built before our time.”

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Book:The Monsters and the Critics and Other Essays
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“In any case, the expression ‘real life’ in this context seems to fall short of academic standards. The notion that motor-cars are more ‘alive’ than, say, centaurs or dragons is curious; that they are more ‘real’ than, say, horses is pathetically absurd. How real, how startingly alive is a factory chimney compared with an elm tree: poor obsolete thing, insubstantial dream of an escapist! For my part, I cannot convince myself that the roof of Bletchley station is more ‘real’ than the clouds. And as an artefact I find it less inspiring than the legendary dome of heaven. The bridge to platform 4 is to me less interesting than Bifröst guarded by Heimdall with the Gjallarhorn. From the wildness of my heart I cannot exclude the question whether railway-engineers, if they had been brought up on more fantasy, might not have done better with all their abundant means than they commonly do.”

InspirationalImaginationCreativityFantasyArchitectureTolkienNorse Mythology
Book:The Monsters and the Critics and Other Essays
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“You do not need violence to solve your problems. Be assured that your enemies are far, far weaker than you believe yourself to be. Were they not so weak and unsure, they would not need to inflict on you in order to feel better about themselves. They also suffer from a tragic lack of imagination. This can and will be their downfall.”

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Book:The Supervillain's Guide to Being a Fat Kid: A Humorous Middle Grade Novel About Standing Up to Bullies for Kids
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