"The Black Rider flung back his hood, and behold! he had a kingly crown; and yet upon no head visible was it set. The red fires shone between it and the mantled shoulders vast and dark. From a mouth unseen there came a deadly laughter.
'Old fool!' he said. 'Old fool! This is my hour. Do you not know Death when you see it? Die now and curse in vain!' And with that he lifted high his sword and flames ran down the blade."
Gandalf’s encounter with The Witch-King of Angmar
J.R.R. Tolkien, The Siege of Gondor, The Return of the King
"Three Rings for the Elven-kings under the sky,
Seven for the Dwarf-lords in their halls of stone,
Nine for Mortal Men doomed to die,
One for the Dark Lord in his dark throne
In the Land of Mordor where the Shadows lie.
One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them,
One ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them
In the Land of Mordor where the Shadows lie."
Seven for the Dwarf-lords in their halls of stone,
Nine for Mortal Men doomed to die,
One for the Dark Lord in his dark throne
In the Land of Mordor where the Shadows lie.
One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them,
One ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them
In the Land of Mordor where the Shadows lie."
J.R.R. Tolkien, The Shadow of the Past, The Fellowship of the Ring
Old Tom Bombadil is a merry fellow,
Bright blue his jacket is, and his boots are yellow.
None has ever caught him yet, for Tom, he is the master:
His songs are stronger songs, and his feet are faster.
Bright blue his jacket is, and his boots are yellow.
None has ever caught him yet, for Tom, he is the master:
His songs are stronger songs, and his feet are faster.
Tom Bombadil
J.R.R. Tolkien, Fog on the Barrow Downs, The Fellowship of the Ring
"'It was a compliment,' said Merry Brandybuck, 'and so, of course, not true.'"
Merry Brandybuck
J.R.R. Tolkien, A Long-expected Party, The Fellowship of the Ring
"The invention of languages is the foundation. The ‘stories’ were made rather to provide a world for the languages than the reverse. To me a name comes first and the story follows."
J.R.R. Tolkien
Humphrey Carpenter and Christopher Tolkien (eds.), No. 165, The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien
"Thank you for your letter ... I regret that I am not clear as to what you intend by arisch. I am not of Aryan extraction: that is Indo-Iranian; as far as I am aware none of my ancestors spoke Hindustani, Persian, Gypsy, or any related dialects. But if I am to understand that you are enquiring whether I am of Jewish origin, I can only reply that I regret that I appear to have no ancestors of that gifted people."
A draft for a response to Tolkien's German publishers inquiry about his ancestry.
Humphrey Carpenter and Christopher Tolkien (eds.), No. 30, The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien
"It is not our part to master all the tides of the world, but to do what is in us for the succour of those years wherein we are set, uprooting the evil in the fields that we know, so that those who live after may have clean earth to till. What weather they shall have is not ours to rule."
Gandalf
J.R.R. Tolkien, The Last Debate, The Return of the King
"He often used to say there was only one Road; that it was like a great river: its springs were at every doorstep and every path was its tributary. 'It’s a dangerous business, Frodo, going out of your door,' he used to say. 'You step into the Road, and if you don’t keep your feet, there is no telling where you might be swept off to.'"
Frodo Baggins
J.R.R. Tolkien, Three Is Company, The Fellowship of the Ring
"Many are the strange chances of the world,’ said Mithrandir, ‘and help oft shall come from the hands of the weak when the Wise falter."
Gandalf
J.R.R. Tolkien (Christopher Tolkien ed.), Of the Rings of Power and the Third Age, The Silmarillion
"Deeds will not be less valiant because they are unpraised."
Aragorn
J.R.R. Tolkien, The Passing of the Grey Company, The Return of the King
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