J. R. R. Tolkien quotes

J. R. R. Tolkien was an English writer, philologist, and academic, best known as the author of "The Lord of the Rings" and "The Hobbit." His works created the foundation for modern fantasy literature and inspired generations of readers and writers. He remains one of the most influential fantasy authors in literary history. Here are 105 of his quotes:

If more of us valued food and cheer and song above hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world. (J. R. R. Tolkien)
I wish life was not so short," he thought. "Languages take such a time, and so do all the things one wants to know about. View quote
J. R. R. Tolkien
Faithless is he that says farewell when the road darkens. View quote
J. R. R. Tolkien
Many that live deserve death. Some that die deserve life. Can you give it to them? Then do not be too eager to deal out death in judgment, for even the very wise cannot see all ends. View quote
J. R. R. Tolkien
I have the hatred of apartheid in my bones... View quote
J. R. R. Tolkien
The Lord of the Rings is of course a fundamentally religious and Catholic work; unconsciously so at first, but consciously in the revision. That is why I have not put in, or have cut out, practically all references to anything like 'religion', to cults or practices, in the imaginary world. For the religious element is absorbed into the story and the symbolism. View quote
J. R. R. Tolkien
My advice to all who have the time or inclination to concern themselves with the international language movement would be: 'Back Esperanto loyally. View quote
J. R. R. Tolkien
It was like discovering a complete wine-filled cellar filled with bottles of an amazing wine of a kind and flavor never tasted before. It quite intoxicated me.... View quote
J. R. R. Tolkien
All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us. View quote
J. R. R. Tolkien
Fantasy remains a human right: we make in our measure and in our derivative mode, because we are made: and not only made, but made in the image and likeness of a Maker. View quote
J. R. R. Tolkien
I am in fact a Hobbit (in all but size). I like gardens, trees, and unmechanized farmlands; I smoke a pipe, and like good plain food (unrefrigerated), but detest French cooking; I like, and even dare to wear in these dull days, ornamental waistcoats. I am fond of mushrooms (out of a field); have a very simple sense of humor (which even my appreciative critics find tiresome); I go to bed late and get up late (when possible). I do not travel much. (J. R. R. Tolkien)
No language is justly studied merely as an aid to other purposes. It will in fact better serve other purposes, philological or historical, when it is studied for love, for itself. View quote
J. R. R. Tolkien
There was a solemn article in the local paper seriously advocating systematic exterminating of the entire German nation as the only proper course after military victory: because, if you please, they are rattlesnakes, and don't know the difference between good and evil! (What of the writer?) The Germans have just as much right to declare the Poles and Jews exterminable vermin, subhuman, as we have to select the Germans: in other words, no right, whatever they have done. View quote
J. R. R. Tolkien
A story must be told or there'll be no story, yet it is the untold stories that are most moving. View quote
J. R. R. Tolkien
Wars are not favourable to delicate pleasures. View quote
J. R. R. Tolkien
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. View quote
J. R. R. Tolkien
It was just as the 1914 War burst on me that I made the discovery that 'legends' depend on the language to which they belong; but a living language depends equally on the 'legends' which it conveys by tradition. ... Volapuk, Esperanto, Ido, Novial, &c &c are dead, far deader than ancient unused languages, because their authors never invented any Esperanto legends... View quote
J. R. R. Tolkien
I am doubtful myself about the undertaking. Part of the attraction of the L. R. is, I think, due to the glimpses of a large history in the background: an attraction like that of viewing far off an unvisited island, or seeing the towers of a distant city gleaming in a sunlit mist. To go there is to destroy the magic, unless new unattainable vistas are again revealed. Also many of the older legends are purely 'mythological', and nearly all are grim and tragic: a long account of the disasters that destroyed the beauty of the Ancient World, from the darkening of Valinor to the Downfall of Númenor and the flight of Elendil. View quote
J. R. R. Tolkien
If you really come down to any large story that interests people – holds the attention for a considerable time ... human stories are practically always about one thing, aren't they? Death. The inevitability of death. View quote
J. R. R. Tolkien
Blessed are the legend-makers with their rhyme of things not found within recorded time. View quote
J. R. R. Tolkien
Power' is an ominous and sinister word in all these tales, except as applied to the gods. (J. R. R. Tolkien)
For myself I would say that more than the interest and uses of the study of Welsh as an adminicle of English philology, more than the practical linguist's desire to acquire a knowledge of Welsh for the enlargement of his experience, more even than the interest and worth of the literature, older and newer, that is preserved in it, these two things seem important: Welsh is of this soil, this island, the senior language of the men of Britain; and Welsh is beautiful. View quote
J. R. R. Tolkien
A pen is to me as a beak is to a hen. View quote
J. R. R. Tolkien
Nearly all marriages, even happy ones, are mistakes: in the sense that almost certainly (in a more perfect world, or even with a little more care in this very imperfect one) both partners might be found more suitable mates. But the real soul-mate is the one you are actually married to. View quote
J. R. R. Tolkien
Not all those who wander are lost. View quote
J. R. R. Tolkien