— Gandalf the White - The Lord of the Rings - The Return of the King
“But,” said Sam, and tears started in his eyes, “I thought you were going to enjoy the Shire, too, for years and years, after all you have done.”
“So I thought too, once. But I have been too deeply hurt, Sam. I tried to save the Shire, and it has been saved, but not for me. It must often be so, Sam, when things are in danger someone has to give them up, lose them, so that others may keep them.”
— Sam singing about oliphaunts - The Lord of the Rings - The Two Towers
— Frodo contemplating killing Gollum - The Lord of the Rings - The Two Towers
The travelers now turned their faces to the journey; the sun was before them and their eyes were dazzled, for all were filled with tears. Gimli wept openly.
“I have looked the last upon that which was fairest,” he said to Legolas his companion. “Henceforth I will call nothing fair, unless it be her gift.” He put his hand to his breast.
“Tell me, Legolas, why did I come on this Quest? Little did I know where the chief peril lay! Truly Elrond spoke, saying that we could not foresee what we might meet upon our road. Torment in the dark was the danger that I feared, and it did not hold me back. But I would not have come, had I known the danger of light and joy. Now I have taken my worst wound in this parting, even if I were to go this night straight to the Dark Lord. Alas for Gimli son of Gloin!”
“Nay!” Said Legolas. “Alas for us all! And for all that the world in these after-days. For such is the way of it: to find and lose, as it seems to those whose boat is on the running stream. But I count you blessed, Gimli son of Gloin: for your loss you suffer of your own free will, and you might have chose otherwise. But you have not forsaken your companions, and the least reward is that the memory of Lothlorien shall remain ever clear and I stained in your heart, and shall neither fade nor grow stale.”
“Maybe,” said Gimli, “and I thank you for your words. True words doubtless; yet all such comfort is cold. Memory is not what the heart desires. That is only a mirror, be it clear as Kheled-zaram. Or so says the heart of Gimli the Dwarf. Elves see things otherwise. Indeed I have heard that for them memory is more like to the waking world that to a dream. Not so for Dwarves.”
It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it. - Aristotle
— Aragorn about Eowyn - The Lord of the Rings - The Return of the King
— King Theoden - The Lord of the Rings - The Return of the King
[Eowyn] “Shall I always left behind when the Riders depart, to mind the house while they win renown, and find foods and beds when they return?”
“A time may come soon,” said [Aragorn], “when none will return. Then there will be need of valour without renown, for none shall remember the deeds that are done in the last defense of your homes. Yet deeds will not be less valiant because they are unpraised.”
And she answered: “All your words are but to say: you are a woman, and your part is in the house. But when the men have died in battle and honor, you have leave to be burned in the house, for men will need it no more. But I am of the House of Eorl and not a serving-woman. I can ride and wield blade, and I do not fear either pain or death.
What do you fear lady? [Aragorn] asked.
“A cage,” she said. “To stay behind bars, until use and old age accept them, and all chance of doing great deeds is gone beyond recall or desire.”
— Gandalf the White - Lord of the Rings - The Return of the King
— Cosmic Love - Florence + the Machine
“…The further you go, the less easy will it be to withdraw; yet no oath or bond is laid on you to go further than you will. For you do not yet know the strength of your hearts, and you cannot foresee what each may meet upon the road.”
“Faithless is he that says farewell when the road darkens,” said Gimli.
“Maybe,” said Elrond, “but let him not vow to walk in the dark, who has not seen the nightfall.”
“Yet sworn word may strengthen quaking heart,” said Gimli.
“Or break it,” said Elrond. “Look not too far ahead! But go now with good hearts!”
I sit beside the fire and think
of all that I have seen,
of meadow-flowers and butterflies
in summers that have been;
Of yellow leaves and gossamer
in autumns that there were,
with morning mist and silver sun
and wind upon my hair.
I sit beside the fire and think
of how the world will be
when winter comes without a spring
that I shall ever see.
For still there are so many things
that I have never seen;
in every wood in every spring
there is a different green.
I sit beside the fire and think
of people long ago,
and people who will see a world
that I shall never know.
But all the while I sit and think,
of times there were before,
I listen for returning feet
and voices at the door.
— Bilbo Baggins - The Lord of the Rings, Vol. 2 - J.R.R. Tolkien
