J.R.R. Tolkien

Novelist

1892-01-03 – 1973-09-02

J.R.R. Tolkien was an English writer, philologist, and scholar best known for The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. He was a professor of Anglo-Saxon and later English language and literature at Oxford. His legendarium became foundational to modern epic fantasy.

Quotes by J.R.R. Tolkien

Is there any pleasure on earth as great as the circle of Christian friends by a good fire?
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And Gandalf said: This is your realm, and the heart of the greater realm that shall be. The Third Age of the world is ended, and the new age is begun; and it is your task to order its beginning and to preserve what must be preserved. For though much has been saved, much must now pass away; and the power of the Three Rings also is ended. And all the lands that you see, and those that lie round about them, shall be dwellings of Men. For the time comes of the Dominion of Men, and the Elder Kindred shall fade or depart.
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But the only measure that he knows is desire desire for power and so he judges all hearts. Into his heart the thought will not enter that any will refuse it that having the Ring we may seek to destroy it. If we seek this we shall put him out of reckoning.
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There's some good in this world, Mr. Frodo, and it's worth fighting for.
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Far, far below the deepest delvings of the dwarves, the world is gnawed by nameless things.
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So comes snow after fire, and even dragons have their ending!
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Myth and fairy-story must, as all art, reflect and contain in solution elements of moral and religious truth (or error), but not explicit, not in the known form of the primary 'real' world.
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It is plain indeed that in spite of later estrangement Hobbits are relatives of ours: far nearer to us than Elves, or even than Dwarves. Of old they spoke the languages of Men, after their own fashion, and liked and disliked much the same things as Men did. But what exactly our relationship is can no longer be discovered.
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In October 1920 I went to Leeds as Reader in English Language, with a free commission to develop the linguistic side of a large and growing School of English Studies, in which no regular provision had as yet been made for the linguistic specialist.
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Do not meddle in the affairs of Wizards, for they are subtle and quick to anger.
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It's the job that's never started as takes longest to finish.
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A box without hinges, key, or lid, yet golden treasure inside is hid.
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Don't go getting mixed up in the business of your betters, or you'll land in trouble too big for you.
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Middle English is an exciting field - almost uncharted, I begin to think, because as soon as one turns detailed personal attention on to any little corner of it, the received notions and ideas seem to crumple up and fall to pieces - as far as language goes, at any rate.
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The proper study of Man is anything but Man; and the most improper job of any man, even saints (who at any rate were at least unwilling to take it on), is bossing other men. Not one in a million is fit for it, and least of all those who seek the opportunity.
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All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.
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If more of us valued food and cheer and song above hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world.
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Still round the corner there may wait, A new road or a secret gate.
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Not all those who wander are lost.
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The wide world is all about you: you can fence yourselves in, but you cannot forever fence it out.
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