Fool of a Took!" he growled. "This is a serious journey, not a hobbit walking-party. Throw yourself in next time, and then you will be no further nuisance.

Fear nothing! Have peace until the morning! Heed no nightly noises!

This is a story of how a Baggins had an adventure, and found himself doing and saying things altogether unexpected.

Maybe the paths that you each shall tread are already laid before your feet though you do not see them

Don't adventures ever have an end? I suppose not. Someone else always has to carry on on the story.

A few melancholy birds were pipping and wailing, until the round red sun sank slowly into the western shadows; then an empty silence fell

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.