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J.R.R. Tolkien Quotes

·2 mins

Gandalf in Party hat

Happy Tolkien Week!

I learned of this celebration on Wednesday from my computer’s “Search Highlights.” Instituted by The American Tolkien Society in 1978, it is the week that contains September 22nd, Bilbo and Frodo’s shared birthday aka “Hobbit Day.”

In honor of this joyous occasion, I figured I would share some of my favorite Tolkien quotes. I could just put the whole Lord of the Rings trilogy on here, but that would be a little long, so I’ve tried to narrow it down to just nine:

  1. “It’s the job that’s never started as takes longest to finish.”

    I think of this one often.

  2. “It’s like in the great stories, Mr. Frodo. The ones that really mattered. Full of darkness and danger they were. And sometimes you didn’t want to know the end… because how could the end be happy? How could the world go back to the way it was when so much bad had happened? But in the end, it’s only a passing thing… this shadow. Even darkness must pass.”

    Sam is perhaps the greatest character ever written.

  3. “I don’t know half of you half as well as I should like; and I like less than half of you half as well as you deserve.”

    Classic.

  4. “I warn you, if you bore me, I shall take my revenge.”

    I want a shirt that says this.

  5. “Many that live deserve death. And some that die deserve life. Can you give it to them? Then do not be too eager to deal out death in judgement. For even the very wise cannot see all ends.”

    I have to try and remember this when I’m feeling judgmental.

  6. “All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.”

    Wise words, Gandalf.

  7. “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.”

    This one gives me chills.

  8. “It does not do to leave a live dragon out of your calculations, if you live near him.”

    Trust me. This is VERY true.

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

    He came up with such good analogies.

So there you go, nine Tolkien quotes for the nine members of the Fellowship. I hope you’re inspired to go re-read the whole series—and if you haven’t read it yet, how dare you. Go read it right now. I’m not kidding. Go on. You’ll thank me later.