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" It's the job that's never started as takes longest to finish. "

J. R. R. Tolkien

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" 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. "

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" A safe fairyland is untrue to all worlds. "

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" Go not to the Elves for counsel, for they will say both no and yes. "

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" Don't go getting mixed up in the business of your betters, or you'll land in trouble too big for you. "

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" Myth and fairy-story must, as all art, reflect and contain in solution elements of moral and religious truth (or error), but not explicit, not in the known form of the primary 'real' world. "

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" I dislike Allegory - the conscious and intentional allegory - yet any attempt to explain the purport of myth or fairytale must use allegorical language. "

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" Short cuts make long delays. "

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" 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. "

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" In October 1920 I went to Leeds as Reader in English Language, with a free commission to develop the linguistic side of a large and growing School of English Studies, in which no regular provision had as yet been made for the linguistic specialist. "

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" A friend of mine tells that I talk in shorthand and then smudge it. "

J. R. R. Tolkien

" It may be the part of a friend to rebuke a friend's folly. "

J. R. R. Tolkien

" It does not do to leave a live dragon out of your calculations, if you live near him. "

J. R. R. Tolkien

" The proper study of Man is anything but Man; and the most improper job of any man, even saints (who at any rate were at least unwilling to take it on), is bossing other men. Not one in a million is fit for it, and least of all those who seek the opportunity. "

J. R. R. Tolkien

" 'I wish life was not so short,' he thought. 'Languages take such a time, and so do all the things one wants to know about.' "

J. R. R. Tolkien

" If you really want to know what Middle-earth is based on, it's my wonder and delight in the earth as it is, particularly the natural earth. "

J. R. R. Tolkien

" Courage is found in unlikely places. "

J. R. R. Tolkien

" So comes snow after fire, and even dragons have their ending! "

J. R. R. Tolkien

" The wide world is all about you: you can fence yourselves in, but you cannot forever fence it out. "

J. R. R. Tolkien

" The original 'Hobbit' was never intended to have a sequel - Bilbo 'remained very happy to the end of his days and those were extraordinarily long': a sentence I find an almost insuperable obstacle to a satisfactory link. "

J. R. R. Tolkien

" Do not meddle in the affairs of Wizards, for they are subtle and quick to anger. "

J. R. R. Tolkien

" Still round the corner there may wait, A new road or a secret gate. "

J. R. R. Tolkien

" Many children make up, or begin to make up, imaginary languages. I have been at it since I could write. "

J. R. R. Tolkien

" All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us. "

J. R. R. Tolkien

" I should like to save the Shire, if I could - though there have been times when I thought the inhabitants too stupid and dull for words, and have felt that an earthquake or an invasion of dragons might be good for them. "

J. R. R. Tolkien

" It is plain indeed that in spite of later estrangement Hobbits are relatives of ours: far nearer to us than Elves, or even than Dwarves. Of old they spoke the languages of Men, after their own fashion, and liked and disliked much the same things as Men did. But what exactly our relationship is can no longer be discovered. "

J. R. R. Tolkien

" Middle English is an exciting field - almost uncharted, I begin to think, because as soon as one turns detailed personal attention on to any little corner of it, the received notions and ideas seem to crumple up and fall to pieces - as far as language goes, at any rate. "

J. R. R. Tolkien

" Hobbits are an unobtrusive but very ancient people, more numerous formerly than they are today; for they love peace and quiet and good tilled earth: a well-ordered and well-farmed countryside was their favourite haunt. "

J. R. R. Tolkien

" I don't like allegories. "

J. R. R. Tolkien

" A box without hinges, key, or lid, yet golden treasure inside is hid. "

J. R. R. Tolkien

" A pen is to me as a beak is to a hen. "

J. R. R. Tolkien