J.R.R. Tolkien Quotes

The works of J.R.R. Tolkien are filled with beautiful and inspiring quotes. 

Here are some of his most famous and beloved lines, primarily from The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit:

On Wisdom and Life

"All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us." (Gandalf, The Fellowship of the Ring)

"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." (Gandalf, The Fellowship of the Ring)

"It's the job that's never started as takes longest to finish." (Sam Gamgee, The Fellowship of the Ring)

"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 Baggins, 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 Oakenshield, The Hobbit)

On Journeys and Adventure

"Not all those who wander are lost." (From the poem "The Riddle of Strider," in The Fellowship of the Ring)

"The Road goes ever on and on, / Down from the door where it began." (Bilbo's Walking Song, The Hobbit and The Fellowship of the Ring)

"Still round the corner there may wait, / A new road or a secret gate." (Frodo's Walking Song, The Return of the King)

"It's a dangerous business, Frodo, going out your door. You step onto the Road, and if you don't keep your feet, there is no knowing where you might be swept off to." (Bilbo Baggins, The Fellowship of the Ring)

On Hope and Courage

"Courage is found in unlikely places." (Gildor Inglorion, The Fellowship of the Ring)

"The wide world is all about you: you can fence yourselves in, but you cannot forever fence it out." (Gildor Inglorion, The Fellowship of the Ring)

"Even the smallest person can change the course of the future." (Galadriel, The Fellowship of the Ring)

"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." (Haldir, The Fellowship of the Ring)

"Faithless is he that says farewell when the road darkens." (Gimli, The Fellowship of the Ring)