Have you thought of an ending?' 'Yes , several, and all are dark and unpleasant,' said Frodo. 'Oh , that won't do!' said Bilbo. 'Books ought to have good endings. How would this do: and they all settled down and lived together happily ever after?' 'It will do well, if it ever comes to that,' said Frodo.

Then Aragorn was abashed, for he saw the elven-light in her eyes and the wisdom of many days; yet from that hour he loved Arwen Undómiel daughter of Elrond.

Green are the leaves I leave in Mirkwood.

Not all that have fallen are vanquished.

Without the high and noble the simple and vulgar is utterly mean; and without the simple and ordinary the noble and heroic is meaningless

They arose in my mind as 'given' things, and as they came, separately, so too the links grew. An absorbing, though continually interrupted labour (especially, even apart from the necessities of life, since the mind would wing to the other pole and spread itself on the linguistics): yet always I had the sense of recording what was already 'there', somewhere: not of 'inventing'.

May it be a light to you in dark places, when all other lights go out.