The proper study of Man is anything but Man; and the most improper job of any man, even saints (who at any rate were at least unwilling to take it on), is bossing other men. Not one in a million is fit for it, and least of all those who seek the opportunity.
— J. R. R. Tolkien
I should like to save the Shire, if I could - though there have been times when I thought the inhabitants too stupid and dull for words, and have felt that an earthquake or an invasion of dragons might be good for them.
In October 1920 I went to Leeds as Reader in English Language, with a free commission to develop the linguistic side of a large and growing School of English Studies, in which no regular provision had as yet been made for the linguistic specialist.
I dislike Allegory - the conscious and intentional allegory - yet any attempt to explain the purport of myth or fairytale must use allegorical language.
Don't go getting mixed up in the business of your betters, or you'll land in trouble too big for you.
A pen is to me as a beak is to a hen.
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.
It's the job that's never started as takes longest to finish.
If more of us valued food and cheer and song above hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world.
A friend of mine tells that I talk in shorthand and then smudge it.
Not all those who wander are lost.
Still round the corner there may wait, A new road or a secret gate.
If you really want to know what Middle-earth is based on, it's my wonder and delight in the earth as it is, particularly the natural earth.
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.
The original 'Hobbit' was never intended to have a sequel - Bilbo 'remained very happy to the end of his days and those were extraordinarily long': a sentence I find an almost insuperable obstacle to a satisfactory link.
Middle English is an exciting field - almost uncharted, I begin to think, because as soon as one turns detailed personal attention on to any little corner of it, the received notions and ideas seem to crumple up and fall to pieces - as far as language goes, at any rate.
Myth and fairy-story must, as all art, reflect and contain in solution elements of moral and religious truth (or error), but not explicit, not in the known form of the primary 'real' world.
It is plain indeed that in spite of later estrangement Hobbits are relatives of ours: far nearer to us than Elves, or even than Dwarves. Of old they spoke the languages of Men, after their own fashion, and liked and disliked much the same things as Men did. But what exactly our relationship is can no longer be discovered.
I don't like allegories.
Faithless is he that says farewell when the road darkens.
'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.'
Go not to the Elves for counsel, for they will say both no and yes.
Courage is found in unlikely places.
You have been chosen, and you must therefore use such strength and heart and wits as you have.
A safe fairyland is untrue to all worlds.
The wide world is all about you: you can fence yourselves in, but you cannot forever fence it out.
Short cuts make long delays.
They say it is the first step that costs the effort. I do not find it so. I am sure I could write unlimited 'first chapters'. I have indeed written many.
It may be the part of a friend to rebuke a friend's folly.
Many children make up, or begin to make up, imaginary languages. I have been at it since I could write.
Hobbits are an unobtrusive but very ancient people, more numerous formerly than they are today; for they love peace and quiet and good tilled earth: a well-ordered and well-farmed countryside was their favourite haunt.
I never liked Hans Christian Andersen because I knew he was always getting at me.
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.
It does not do to leave a live dragon out of your calculations, if you live near him.
Do not meddle in the affairs of Wizards, for they are subtle and quick to anger.
So comes snow after fire, and even dragons have their ending!
A box without hinges, key, or lid, yet golden treasure inside is hid.
All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.
