We are being at once wisely aware of our own frivolity if we avoid hitting and whacking and prefer 'striking' and 'smiting'; talk and chat and prefer 'speech' and 'discourse'; well-bred, brilliant, or polite noblemen (visions of snobbery columns in the Press, and fat men on the Riviera) and prefer the 'worthy, brave and courteous men' of long ago.

And sometimes you didn't want to know the end… because how could the end be happy?

You will notice already that Mr. Baggins was not quite so prosy as he liked to believe, also that he was very fond of flowers.

And then her heart changed, or at least she understood it; and the winter passed, and the sun shone upon her.

It seemed like all the way to tomorrow and over it to the days beyond.

I am in fact a Hobbit in all but size. I like gardens, trees, and unmechanized farmlands; I smoke a pipe, and like good plain food (unrefrigerated), but detest French cooking; I like, and even dare to wear in these dull days, ornamental waistcoats. I am fond of mushrooms (out of a field); have a very simple sense of humor (which even my appreciative critics find tiresome); I go to bed late and get up late (when possible). I do not travel much.

It is ever so with the things that Men begin: there is a frost in Spring, or a blight in Summer, and they fail of their promise.