“All’s well that ends better.”

Some who have read the book, or at any rate have reviewed it, have found it boring, absurd, or contemptible, and I have no cause to complain, since I have similar opinions of their works, or of the kinds of writing that they evidently prefer.

It is perilous to study too deeply the arts of the Enemy, for good or for ill.

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.

It is not despair, for despair is only for those who see the end beyond all doubt. We do not.

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.

I come from under the hill, and under the hills and over the hills my paths led. And through the air, I am he that walks unseen.

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.

Oft hope is born when all is forlorn.

Fair speech may hide a foul heart.

Never laugh at live dragons.

The world is full enough of hurts and mischances without wars to multiply them.

I feel thin, sort of stretched, like butter scraped over too much bread.

I am the friend of bears and the guest of eagles. I am Ringwinner and Luckwearer; and I am Barrel-rider.

In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit.

Not all those who wander are lost.

False hopes are more dangerous than fears.

I hope my journey here ends with us.

Am I such a bad person for dreaming of a world that ends when I do? I don’t mean the world ending with respect to me, but every set of eyes closing with mine.

I have never known how to handle endings with grace.

Stay awhile that we may make an end the sooner.

The time has come for humanity to hoist the standard of the oneness of the human world, so that dogmatic formulas and superstitions may end.

There is no end to the undeserved misery and mischief it could create.

The end of doubt is the beginning of repose.

In most cases, worldly love ends in hatred and deep sorrow.