To whatever end. Where is the horse and the rider? Where is the horn that was blowing? They have passed like rain on the mountains. Like wind in the meadow. The days have gone down in the west. Behind the hills, into shadow. How did it come to this?

The world is indeed full of peril, and in it there are many dark places; but still there is much that is fair, and though in all lands love is now mingled with grief, it grows perhaps the greater.

He [Bilbo] fought the real battle in the tunnel alone, before he ever saw the vast danger that lay in wait.

The wolf that one hears is worse than the orc that one fears.

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.

You cannot pass," he said. The orcs stood still, and a dead silence fell. "I am a servant of the Secret Fire, wielder of the flame of Anor. You cannot pass. The dark fire will not avail you, flame of Udûn. Go back to the Shadow! You cannot pass.

I'm in a position where it doesn't matter what people think of me now.