There are many wise and beautiful Tolkien quotes
It can safely be stated that J. R. R. Tolkien, throughout his many years of writing books, has certainly written many wise and beautiful things to quote. This list will consist of 50 quotes from Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings Trilogy and The Hobbit.
If you intentionally look to find quotes from inside these four books, you will discover it is not all difficult to locate a plethora of good quotes, and little wonder considering that combined the books amount to a total of 1501 pages.
The list of quotes below includes some of my very favorite quotes from Tolkien. Some are longer, while others are significantly shorter. I would love to hear from you which ones are your favorite, or which resonate with you the most. Please feel free to share that with me in the comment section at the end of the post.
Now, please enjoy these wise and beautiful Tolkien quotes.
1. In a Hole in the Ground…
“In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit. Not a nasty, dirty, wet hole, filled with the ends of worms and an oozy smell, nor yet a dry, bare, sandy hole with nothing in it to sit down on or to eat: it was a hobbit-hole, and that means comfort.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Hobbit, or There and Back Again
2. What Sort of Morning Is It, Bilbo?
“Do you wish me a good morning, or mean that it is a good morning whether I want it or not; or that you feel good this morning; or that it is a morning to be good on?”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Hobbit, or There and Back Again
3. Wise Words From Thorin Oakenshield
“There is nothing like looking, if you want to find something. You certainly usually find something, if you look, but it is not always quite the something you were after.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Hobbit, or There and Back Again
4. A Well Wishing from Gandalf
“May the wind under your wings bear you where the sun sails and the moon walks.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Hobbit, or There and Back Again
5. Another Spot of Encouragement
“Where there’s life there’s hope.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Hobbit, or There and Back Again
6. If More of Us Valued Food and Cheer and Song…
“There is more in you of good than you know, child of the kindly West. Some courage and some wisdom, blended in measure. If more of us valued food and cheer and song above hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Hobbit, or There and Back Again
7. He Wished to Go On An Adventure
“Then something Tookish woke up inside him, and he wished to go and see the great mountains, and hear the pine-trees and the waterfalls, and explore the caves, and wear a sword instead of a walking-stick.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Hobbit, or There and Back Again
8. Far Away From Home
“There are no safe paths in this part of the world. Remember you are over the Edge of the Wild now, and in for all sorts of fun wherever you go.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Hobbit, or There and Back Again
9. Telling of Tales
“Now it is a strange thing, but things that are good to have and days that are good to spend are soon told about, and not much to listen to; while things that are uncomfortable, palpitating, and even gruesome, may make a good tale, and take a deal of telling anyway.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Hobbit, or There and Back Again
10. A Flustered Bilbo Baggins
“Sorry! I don’t want any adventures, thank you. Not Today. Good morning! But please come to tea -any time you like! Why not tomorrow? Good bye!”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Hobbit, or There and Back Again
11. Gandalf and His Burglar
“You may not like my burglar, but please don’t damage him.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Hobbit, or There and Back Again
12. An Unexpected Journey…
“This is a story of how a Baggins had an adventure, and found himself doing and saying things altogether unexpected.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Hobbit, or There and Back Again
13. A Dangerous Business, Indeed!
“It’s a dangerous business, Frodo, going out your door. You step onto the road, and if you don’t keep your feet, there’s no knowing where you might be swept off to.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings
14. Wise Ol’ Simewise Gamgee
“It’s the job that’s never started as takes longest to finish.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings
15. One Ring to Rule Them All
“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 on 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 Lord of the Rings
16. Bilbo’s Lovely Little Song
“Roads go ever ever on,
Over rock and under tree,
By caves where never sun has shone,
By streams that never find the sea;
Over snow by winter sown,
And through the merry flowers of June,
Over grass and over stone,
And under mountains in the moon.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings
17. All We Have to Decide…
“Frodo: ‘I wish the Ring had never come to me. I wish none of this had happened.’
Gandalf: ‘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 to us.’”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings
18. Even Darkness Must Pass
“But in the end it’s only a passing thing, this shadow; even darkness must pass.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings
19. Real Romance
“I would rather spend one lifetime with you, than face all the ages of this world alone.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings
20. In a Quiet Room By a fire
“He loved mountains, or he had loved the thought of them marching on the edge of stories brought from far away; but now he was borne down by the insupportable weight of Middle-earth. He longed to shut out the immensity in a quiet room by a fire.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings
21. Encouragement from Galadriel
“Even the smallest person can change the course of the future.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings
22. Deeds Will Not Be Less Valient…
“Deeds will not be less valiant because they are unpraised.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings
23. I Have Passed Through Fire and Deep Water
“I have passed through fire and deep water, since we parted. I have forgotten much that I thought I knew, and learned again much that I had forgotten.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings
24. Patience is a Virtue
“Who knows? Have patience. Go where you must go, and hope!”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings
25. It Is Not Despair…
“It is not despair, for despair is only for those who see the end beyond all doubt. We do not. It is wisdom to recognize necessity, when all other courses have been weighed, though as folly it may appear to those who cling to false hope.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings
26. Don’t Give Up, Just Ride On
“Be bold, but wary! Keep up your merry hearts, and ride to meet your fortune!”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings
27. We Must Send The Ring to the Fire
“Now at this last we must take a hard road, a road unforeseen. There lies our hope, if hope it be. To walk into peril – to Mordor. We must send the Ring to the Fire.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings
28. A Mind-Bender From Bilbo
“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.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings
29. The Adventure Must Go On…
“Then shouldering their burdens, they set off, seeking a path that would bring them over the grey hills of the Emyn Muil, and down into the Land of Shadow.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings
30. His Old Life Lay Behind in the Mists
“Sam was the only member of the party who had not been over the river before. He had a strange feeling as the slow gurgling stream slipped by: his old life lay behind in the mists, dark adventure lay in front.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings
31. And Whither Then? I Cannot Say
“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.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings
32. Trust in the Strength and Truth of Men?
“Warning? Warning against what?’ said Boromir sharply. ‘Against delay. Against the way that seems easier. Against refusal of the burden that is laid on me. Against – well, if it must be said, against trust in the strength and truth of Men.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings
33. Nine is the Number!
“The Company of the Ring shall be Nine; and the Nine Walkers shall be set against the Nine Riders that are evil.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings
34. Many Shades of Green
“For still there are so many things that I have never seen: in every wood in every spring there is a different green. I sit beside the fire and think of people long ago, and people who will see a world that I shall never know.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings
35. As Long As the Shire Lies Behind
“I don’t feel like that now. I feel that as long as the Shire lies behind, safe and comfortable, I shall find wandering more bearable: I shall know that somewhere there is a firm foothold, even if my feet cannot stand there again.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings
36. The World is Indeed Full of Peril
“The world is indeed full of peril, and in it there are many dark places; but still there is much that is fair, and though in all lands love is now mingled with grief, it grows perhaps the greater.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings
37. We Shall Not Make the Legends of Our Own Time
“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.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings
38. Farewell To Find the Sun!
“Farewell!’ he said to Gandalf. ‘I go to find the Sun!’ Then swift as a runner over firm sand he shot away, and quickly overtaking the toiling men, with a wave of his hand he passed them, and sped into the distance, and vanished round the rocky turn.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings
39. Bilbo Needs A Holiday
“I am very fond indeed of it, and of all the dear old Shire; but I think I need a holiday.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings
40. Folks In Stories
“I know. It’s all wrong. By rights we shouldn’t even be here. But we are. It’s like in the great stories, Mr. Frodo. The ones that really mattered. Full of darkness and danger, they were. And sometimes you didn’t want to know the end. Because how could the end be happy? How could the world go back to the way it was when so much bad had happened? But in the end, it’s only a passing thing, this shadow. Even darkness must pass. A new day will come. And when the sun shines it will shine out the clearer. Those were the stories that stayed with you. That meant something, even if you were too small to understand why. But I think, Mr. Frodo, I do understand. I know now. Folk in those stories had lots of chances of turning back, only they didn’t. They kept going. Because they were holding on to something.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings
41. Fly, You Fools!
“With a terrible cry the Balrog fell forward, and its shadow plunged down and vanished. But even as it fell it swung its whip, and the thongs lashed and curled about the wizard’s knees, dragging him to the brink. He staggered and fell, grasped vainly at the stone, and slid into the abyss. ‘Fly, you fools!’ he cried, and was gone.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings
42. It was Pity that stayed his hand
“Pity? It was Pity that stayed his hand. Pity, and Mercy: not to strike without need. And he has been well rewarded, Frodo. Be sure that he took so little hurt from the evil, and escaped in the end, because he began his ownership of the Ring so. With Pity.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings
43. We Should Seek A Final End of This Menace
“And it is not our part here to take thought only for a season, or for a few lives of Men, or for a passing age of the world. We should seek a final end of this menace, even if we do not hope to make one.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings
44. He Only Needs One Ring
“He only needs the One; for he made that Ring himself, it is his, and he let a great part of his own former power pass into it, so that he could rule all the others.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings
45. What is Memory?
“Memory is not what the heart desires. That is only a mirror…”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings
46. You Are the Chosen One
“You may be sure that it was not for any merit that others do not possess: not for power or wisdom, at any rate. But you have been chosen, and you must therefore use such strength and heart and wits as you have.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings
47. What Tomorrow May Bring
“Well, no need to brood on what tomorrow may bring. For one thing, tomorrow will be certain to bring worse than today, for many days to come. And there is nothing more that I can do to help it. The board is set, and the pieces are moving.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings
48. Hobbits Sleeping Out of Doors?
“I have seldom heard of a hobbit sleeping out of doors under a tree. Three of them! There’s something mighty queer behind this.’ He was quite right, but he never found out any more about it.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings
49. Even The Wise Cannot See All Ends
“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.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings
50. Don’t Get Mixed Up in Other People’s Business
“Don’t go getting mixed up in the business of your betters, or you’ll land in trouble too big for you.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings
Bonus! All’s Well As Ends Well
“But all’s well as ends well; though perhaps we should not say that until we reach our own doors.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings
There you have it! The entire list of 50 wise and beautiful Tolkien quotes. I would love to hear which number was your favorite. I love so many of them, but I must say that I quite enjoy number 40. Sam is truly a very wise character and a deeply caring friend.
If you enjoyed this list, then please consider sharing this post, following us on social media and subscribing to our newsletter.
Please join us again for the next post in the Middle Earth May Blog Post Series!
Happy Reading & Writing!