The Tolkien Quote Database
The 10 most popular quotes
"'I wish it need not have happened in my time,' said Frodo.
'So do I,' said Gandalf, 'and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.'"
Gandalf
J.R.R. Tolkien, The Shadow of the Past, The Fellowship of the Ring
"If more of us valued food and cheer and song above hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world."
Thorin
J.R.R. Tolkien, The Return Journey, The Hobbit
"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."
Bilbo
J.R.R. Tolkien, A Long-expected Party, The Fellowship of the Ring
"All that is gold does not glitter,
Not all those who wander are lost;
The old that is strong does not wither,
Deep roots are not reached by the frost.
From the ashes a fire shall be woken,
A light from the shadows shall spring;
Renewed shall be blade that was broken,
The crownless again shall be king."
J.R.R. Tolkien, Strider, The Fellowship of the Ring
"I am looking for someone to share in an adventure that I am arranging, and it's very difficult to find anyone."
Gandalf
J.R.R. Tolkien, An Unexpected Party, The Hobbit
Deserves it! I daresay he does. 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 not much hope that Gollum can be cured before he dies, but there is a chance of it. And he is bound up with the fate of the Ring. My heart tells me that he has some part to play yet, for good or ill, before the end; and when that comes, the pity of Bilbo may rule the fate of many – yours not least.
Gandalf
J.R.R. Tolkien, The Shadow of the Past, The Fellowship of the Ring
"Now news came to Hithlum that Dorthonion was lost and the sons of Finarfin overthrown, and that the sons of Fëanor were driven from their lands. Then Fingolfin beheld… the utter ruin of the Noldor, and the defeat beyond redress of all their houses; and filled with wrath and despair he mounted upon Rochallor his great horse and rode forth alone, and none might restrain him. He passed over Dor-nu-Fauglith like a wind amid the dust, and all that beheld his onset fled in amaze, thinking that Oromë himself was come: for a great madness of rage was upon him, so that his eyes shone like the eyes of the Valar. Thus he came alone to Angband’s gates, and he sounded his horn, and smote once more upon the brazen doors, and challenged Morgoth to come forth to single combat. And Morgoth came."
J.R.R. Tolkien (Christopher Tolkien ed.), Quenta Silmarillion: Of the Ruin of Beleriand and the Fall of Fingolfin, The Silmarillion
"Come not between the Nazgûl and his prey! Or he will not slay thee in thy turn. He will bear thee away to the houses of lamentation, beyond all darkness, where thy flesh shall be devoured, and thy shriveled mind be left naked to the Lidless Eye."
The Witch-King of Angmar to Éowyn
J.R.R. Tolkien, The Battle of the Pelennor Fields, The Return of the King
"A man that flies from his fear may find that he has only taken a short cut to meet it."
Sador on loosing a leg by accident after fleeing battle
J.R.R. Tolkien, The Childhood of Túrin, The Children of Hurin
"Such is oft the course of deeds that move the wheels of the world: small hands do them because they must, while the eyes of the great are elsewhere."
Elrond
J.R.R. Tolkien, The Ring Goes South, The Fellowship of the Ring