J. R. R. Tolkien Tower Quotations

Perilous to us all are the devices of an art deeper than we possess ourselves.

And sometimes you didn't want to know the end… because how could the end be happy?

No onslaught more fierce was ever seen in the savage world of beasts, where some desperate small creature armed with little teeth, alone, will spring upon a tower of horn and hide that stands above its fallen mate.

Gandalf: Three hundred lives of men I have walked this earth and now I have no time.

There is no curse in Elvish, Entish, or the tongues of Men for this treachery.

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. That there’s some good in this world, Mr. Frodo… and it’s worth fighting for.

Don't put a lump of rock under my elbow again!

From the Gate of Kings the North Wind rides, and past the roaring falls;And clear and cold about the tower its loud horn calls.'What news from the North, O mighty wind, do you bring to me today?What news of Boromir the Bold? For he is long away.''Beneath Amon Hen I heard his cry. There many foes he fought.His cloven shield, his broken sword, they to the water brought.His head so proud, his face so fair, his limbs they laid to rest;And Rauros, golden Rauros-falls, bore him upon its breast.''O Boromir! The Tower of Gaurd shall ever northward gazeTo Rauros, golden Rauros-falls, until the end of days.'

War must be, while we defend our lives against a destroyer who would devour all; but I do not love the bright sword for its sharpness, nor the arrow for its swiftness, nor the warrior for his glory. I love only that which they defend.

You must understand, young Hobbit, it takes a long time to say anything in Old Entish. And we never say anything unless it is worth taking a long time to say.

There are some things that it is better to begin than to refuse, even though the end may be dark.

A new day will come and when the sun shines it will shine out the clearer.

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.

Not idly do the leaves of Lorien fall