# We swears precious, we love the little hobbits's...Favorite Tolkien quotes: **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 12, 2007, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-swears-precious-we-love-the-little-hobbitss-favorite-tolkien-quotes/407731 "2007-06-12T17:13:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Phlosphr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c68b51/32.png) [@Phlosphr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Phlosphr)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2007, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-swears-precious-we-love-the-little-hobbitss-favorite-tolkien-quotes/407731/1 "2007-06-12T17:13:52Z")
> [@](#): > > "Do not meddle in the affairs of wizards, for they are subtle and quick to anger. " > [@](#): > > Many that live deserve death. And some die that deserve life. Can you give it to them? Then be not too eager to deal out death in the name of justice, fearing for your own safety. Even the wise cannot see all ends. As but a fledgling Tolkien scholar [since I was 8 - so 27-ish years], I do love researching the old writings of The Man. More as an adult than as a child. He’s always there when I need o escape the crap in life…to dig deep into one of his tales. I searched and scoured old smelly book stores for old copies of his work…I’ve collected a fair amount and noticed, of course, that I love Tolkien’s weaving of the written word…there are many quotes from his writings that I love, and even a few from The Man himself. I’ve just purchased \*Children of Hurin \* and can not wait to delve in. It’s one of the texts of or relating to Tolkien I have not read. How about you? What quotes do you like? ---
**Author:** ![Least\_Original\_User\_Name\_Ever](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e480ec/32.png) [@Least\_Original\_User\_Name\_Ever](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Least_Original_User_Name_Ever)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2007, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-swears-precious-we-love-the-little-hobbitss-favorite-tolkien-quotes/407731/2 "2007-06-12T17:18:04Z")
Hoo boy…this is about to turn into something scary real quick…paging Dr. **Qadgop**! ---
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2007, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-swears-precious-we-love-the-little-hobbitss-favorite-tolkien-quotes/407731/3 "2007-06-12T17:29:13Z")
‘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 shrivelled mind be left naked to the Lidless Eye.’ The bad guys get all the best lines. ---
**Author:** ![Phlosphr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c68b51/32.png) [@Phlosphr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Phlosphr)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2007, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-swears-precious-we-love-the-little-hobbitss-favorite-tolkien-quotes/407731/4 "2007-06-12T18:00:22Z")
[QUOTE=jsc1953] ‘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 shrivelled mind be left naked to the Lidless Eye.’ The bad guys get all the best lines. [/QUOTE] I agree… " No man can Kill me…" "I am no man! " Lame quotes but I like’em! ---
**Author:** ![The\_Hamster\_King](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8edcca/32.png) [@The\_Hamster\_King](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Hamster_King)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2007, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-swears-precious-we-love-the-little-hobbitss-favorite-tolkien-quotes/407731/5 "2007-06-12T18:04:55Z")
“They were come to the Desolation of the Dragon, and they were come at the waning of the year.” ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2007, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-swears-precious-we-love-the-little-hobbitss-favorite-tolkien-quotes/407731/6 "2007-06-12T18:15:09Z")
I love the classic: > [@](#): > > 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; renenwed shall be blade that was broken, the crownless again shall be king. Especially the first two parts: “All that is gold does not glitter” “Not all those who wander are lost” Another Quote I love, not from Middle-Earth > [@](#): > > 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. I find this quote very telling, it is from Letters: > [@](#): > > The news today about ‘Atomic bombs’ is so horrifying one is stunned. The utter folly of these lunatic physicists to consent to do such work for war-purposes: calmly plotting the destruction of the world! Such explosives in men’s hands, while their moral and intellectual status is declining, is about as useful as giving out firearms to all inmates of a gaol and then saying that you hope ‘this will ensure peace’. But one good thing may arise out of it, I suppose, if the write-ups are not overheated: Japan ought to cave in. Well we’re in God’s hands. But He does not look kindly on Babel-builders. Jim ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2007, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-swears-precious-we-love-the-little-hobbitss-favorite-tolkien-quotes/407731/7 "2007-06-12T18:18:55Z")
[QUOTE=Phlosphr] " No man can Kill me…" "I am no man! " [/QUOTE] “Er, Come not between the Nazgul and the Browning Automatic Rifle…” ---
**Author:** ![Eonwe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eonwe/32/240_2.png) [@Eonwe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eonwe)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2007, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-swears-precious-we-love-the-little-hobbitss-favorite-tolkien-quotes/407731/8 "2007-06-12T18:21:16Z")
Too bad I’m at my dad’s, or I’d pull out my underlined and indexed copies of LoTR and put a zillion up here. One that pops into my head at the moment is Treebeard’s lament to Pippin and Merry (googled because I can’t remember it all off the top of my head): - Of course, it is likely enough, my friends, that we are going to our doom: the last march of the Ents. But if we stayed at home and did nothing, doom would find us anyway, sooner or later. That thought has long been growing in our hearts; and that is why we are marching now. It was not a hasty resolve. Now at least the last march of the Ents may be worth a song. Aye, we may help the other peoples before we pass away. Still, I should have liked to see the songs come true about the Entwives. I should dearly have liked to see Fimbrethil again. But there, my friends, songs like trees bear fruit only in their own time and their own way: and sometimes they are withered untimely.\* ---
**Author:** ![Humble\_Servant](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/47e85d/32.png) [@Humble\_Servant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Humble_Servant)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2007, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-swears-precious-we-love-the-little-hobbitss-favorite-tolkien-quotes/407731/9 "2007-06-12T18:28:04Z")
From the mucking about I’ve done in the “other stuff,” this one, found late, gave me a thrill: There was a merry passenger, a messenger, a mariner: he built a gilded gondola to wander in, and had in her a load of yellow oranges and porridge for his provender; he perfumed her with marjoram and cardamom and lavender… He tarried for a little while in little isles that lonely lay, and found there naught but blowing grass, and so at last the only way he took, and turned, and coming home with honeycomb, to memory his message came, and errand too! In derring-do and glamoury he had forgot them, journeying and tourneying, a wanderer. So now he must depart again and start again his gondola, for ever still a messenger, a passenger, a tarrier, a-roving as a feather does, a weather-driven mariner.–Errantry ---
**Author:** ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2007, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-swears-precious-we-love-the-little-hobbitss-favorite-tolkien-quotes/407731/10 "2007-06-12T18:53:38Z")
Several passages move me every single time: > [@](#): > > Gandalf did not move. And in that very moment, away behind in some courtyard of the City, a cock crowed. Shrill and clear he crowed, recking nothing of wizardry or war, welcoming only the morning that in the sky far above the shadows of death was coming with the dawn. > > And as if in answer there came from far away another note. Horns, horns, horns. In dark Mindolluin’s sides they dimly echoed. Great horns of the North wildly blowing. Rohan had come at last. and > [@](#): > > Then out of the blackness in his mind he thought that he heard Dernhelm speaking; yet now the voice seemed strange, recalling some other voice that he had known. > > “Begone, foul dwimmerlaik, lord of carrion! Leave the dead in peace!” > > A cold voice answered: “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 shrivelled mind be left naked to the Lidless Eye.” > > A sword rang as it was drawn. “Do what you will; but I will hinder it, if I may.” > > “Hinder me? Thou fool. No living man may hinder me!” > > Then Merry heard of all sounds in that hour the strangest. It seemed that Dernhelm laughed, and the clear voice was like the ring of steel. “But no living man am I! You look upon a woman. Éowyn I am, Éomund’s daughter. You stand between me and my lord and kin. Begone, if you be not deathless! For living or dark undead, I will smite you, if you touch him.” and of course > [@](#): > > At last they rode over the downs and took the East Road, and then Merry and Pippin rode on to Buckland; and already they were singing again as they went. But Sam turned to Bywater, and so came back up the Hill, as day was ending once more. And he went on, and there was yellow light, and fire within; and the evening meal was ready, and he was expected. And Rose drew him in, and set him in his chair, and put little Elanor upon his lap. > > He drew a deep breath. “Well, I’m back,” he said. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2007, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-swears-precious-we-love-the-little-hobbitss-favorite-tolkien-quotes/407731/11 "2007-06-12T19:12:03Z")
Simple sentence of true bravery: Shortly after having mostly recovered from the deadly Morgul blade. [QUOTE=Frodo] “I will take the Ring, though I do not know the way.” [/QUOTE] > [@](#): > > Elen síla lúmenn’ omentielvo or “a star shines upon the hour of our meeting”, ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2007, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-swears-precious-we-love-the-little-hobbitss-favorite-tolkien-quotes/407731/12 "2007-06-12T21:29:33Z")
> [@](#): > > “The Road goes ever on and on down from the door where it began. Now far ahead the Road has gone, and I must follow, if I can, pursuing it with eager feet, until it joins some larger way where many paths and errands meet. And whither then? I cannot say.” If I wasn’t expecting cremation, I’d put it on my tombstone. ---
**Author:** ![lokij](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/5e9695/32.png) [@lokij](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lokij)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2007, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-swears-precious-we-love-the-little-hobbitss-favorite-tolkien-quotes/407731/13 "2007-06-12T21:33:59Z")
The Road goes ever on and on Down from the door where it began. Now far ahead the Road has gone, And I must follow, if I can, Pursuing it with eager feet, Until it joins some larger way Where many paths and errands meet. And whither then? I cannot say. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2007, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-swears-precious-we-love-the-little-hobbitss-favorite-tolkien-quotes/407731/14 "2007-06-12T21:52:31Z")
I like this one. > [@](#): > > “I am Steward of the House of Anarion. I will not step down to be the dotard chamberlain of an upstart. Even were his claim proved to me, still he comes but of the line of Isildur. I will not bow to such a one, last of a ragged house long bereft of lordship and dignity.” > > “What then would you have,” said Gandalf, “if your will could have its way?” > > “I would have things as they were in all the days of my life,” answered Denethor, “and in the days of my longfathers before me: to be the Lord of this City in peace, and leave my chair to a son after me, who would be his own master and no wizard’s pupil. But if doom denies this to me, then I will have naught: neither life diminished, nor love halved, nor honour abated.” ---
**Author:** ![eleanorigby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee7513/32.png) [@eleanorigby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eleanorigby)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2007, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-swears-precious-we-love-the-little-hobbitss-favorite-tolkien-quotes/407731/15 "2007-06-13T02:29:07Z")
I like the bit about the “far, green country” but don’t know Tolkien well enough to quote off the top of my head. ---
**Author:** ![Cyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a88e4f/32.png) [@Cyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cyn)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2007, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-swears-precious-we-love-the-little-hobbitss-favorite-tolkien-quotes/407731/16 "2007-06-13T02:35:28Z")
All shall love me and despair! ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2007, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-swears-precious-we-love-the-little-hobbitss-favorite-tolkien-quotes/407731/17 "2007-06-13T02:38:27Z")
“Halfllings!” laughed the Rider that stood beside Eomer. “Halflings! But they are only a little people in old songs and children’s tales out of the North. Do we walk in legends or on the green earth in the daylight.” “A man may do both,” said Aragorn. “For not we but those who come after will make the legends of our time. The green earth, say you? That is a mighty matter of legend, though you tread it under the light of day!” ---
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2007, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-swears-precious-we-love-the-little-hobbitss-favorite-tolkien-quotes/407731/18 "2007-06-13T02:40:13Z")
[QUOTE=eleanorigby] I like the bit about the “far, green country” but don’t know Tolkien well enough to quote off the top of my head. [/QUOTE] The movie takes Tolkien’s words and puts them in a different context. In the book, it’s a dream Frodo has at Tom Bombadil’s house: > [@](#): > > But either in his dreams or out of them, he could not tell which, Frodo heard a sweet singing running in his mind; a song that seemed to come like a pale light behind a grey rain-curtain, and growing stronger to turn the veil all to glass and silver, until at last it was rolled back, and a far green country opened before him under a swift sunrise. ---
**Author:** ![Cyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a88e4f/32.png) [@Cyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cyn)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2007, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-swears-precious-we-love-the-little-hobbitss-favorite-tolkien-quotes/407731/19 "2007-06-13T02:49:50Z")
In highschool we had to memorize a poem of our choice, 14 lines or longer. I did Bilbo’s song from The Prancing Pony. I wanted to do Strider’s tale of Beren and Tinuviel but Bilbo’s song was lighter. Cyn, Tolkien geek lite compared to some ---
**Author:** ![N9IWP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/n9iwp/32/3154_2.png) [@N9IWP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/N9IWP)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2007, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-swears-precious-we-love-the-little-hobbitss-favorite-tolkien-quotes/407731/20 "2007-06-13T03:00:06Z")
> [@Frodo](#): > > I’m glad you are with me Sam, here at teh end of all things. > [@Gimli](#): > > Forty-two, Master Legolas! alas! My axe is notched: the forty-second had an iron collar on his neck. How is it with you?’ Brian [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-swears-precious-we-love-the-little-hobbitss-favorite-tolkien-quotes/407731.md?page=2)