Dwarves are not heroes, but a calculating folk with a great idea of the value of money; some are tricky and treacherous and pretty bad lots; some are not but are decent enough people like Thorin and Company, if you don't expect too much.

True education is a kind of never ending story — a matter of continual beginnings, of habitual fresh starts, of persistent newness.

Elves and Dragons! Cabbages and potatoes are better for me and you. Don't go getting mixed up in the business of your betters, or you'll land in trouble too big for you. ~Hamfast Gamgee (the Gaffer)

Come, Mr. Frodo!' he cried. 'I can't carry it for you, but I can carry you.

The road must be trod, but it will be very hard. And neither strength nor wisdom will carry us far upon it. This quest may be attempted by the weak with as much hope as the strong. Yet it is oft the course of deeds that move the wheels of the world: Small hands do them because they must, while the eyes of the great are elsewhere.

If you're going to have a complicated story you must work to a map; otherwise you'll never make a map of it afterwards.

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