Jan 3, 2013

Happy 121st birthday, J.R.R. Tolkien

JRR Tolkien


JRR Tolkien is one of my favorite authors whose words have had a deep impact on my life.  My baby sister just posted some of her favorite Tolkien quotes on her Facebook page, and lo and behold, they are some of my favorites too!  

So in honor of Professor Tolkien's birthday:

"I wish it need not have happened in my time," said Frodo. "So do I," said Gandalf, "and 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 us."

"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."

"Not all those who wander are lost."

"Never laugh at live dragons."

“Deserves it! I daresay he does. 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.”

“I will not say, do not weep, for not all tears are an evil.”

“Frodo: I can't do this, Sam.
Sam: 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.
Frodo: What are we holding onto, Sam?
Sam: That there's some good in this world, Mr. Frodo... and it's worth fighting for.”

“Even the smallest person can change the course of the future.”

“Hold your ground, hold your ground! Sons of Gondor, of Rohan, my brothers! I see in your eyes the same fear that would take the heart of me. A day may come when the courage of men fails, when we forsake our friends and break all bonds of fellowship, but it is not this day. An hour of woes and shattered shields, when the age of men comes crashing down! But it is not this day! This day we fight! By all that you hold dear on this good Earth, I bid you stand, Men of the West!” 

"And why not? Surely you don't disbelieve the prophecies just because you helped them come about. You don't really suppose do you that all your adventures and escapes were managed by mere luck? Just for your sole benefit? You're a very fine person, Mr. Baggins, and I'm quite fond of you. But you are really just a little fellow, in a wide world after all."

Today's Joy Dare: three graces I overheard

8.   Praise for one of my staff from a guest at the hotel
9.   This same staff member giving condolences to one of our colleagues on the loss of her pet
10. This same member of my staff thanking me as I left work this evening.  Okay, so that last one wasn't overheard, but I am thankful for it all the same.

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