|
Be not too eager to deal out death in the name of justice,
fearing for your own safety. Even the wise cannot see all
ends.
The Lord of the Rings
Frodo hears this voice from the past
from Gandalf, Chapter 'The Taming of Sméagol'.
|
"We promises, yes I promise!" said Gollum. "I
will serve the master of the Precious. Good master, good Sméagol,
gollum, gollum!"
The Lord of the Rings
Chapter 'The Taming of Sméagol'. |
|
The cold hard lands,
they bites our hands,
they gnaws our feet.
The rocks and stones
are like old bones
all bare of meat.
But stream and pool
is wet and cool:
so nice for feet!
And now we wish -
The Lord of the Rings
Gollum's Song in the Dead Marshes, Chapter
'The Passage of the Marshes'.
|
If the One goes into the Fire, and we are at hand? I ask you,
Sam, are we ever likely to need bread again? I think not. If
we can nurse our limbs to bring us to Mount Doom, that is all
we can do. More than I can, I begin to feel.
The Lord of the Rings
Frodo, Chapter 'The Passage of the Marshes'. |
Even to the Mere of Dead Faces some haggard phantom of spring
would come; but here neither spring nor summer would ever come
again. Here nothing lived ... a land defiled, diseased beyond
all healing.
The Lord of the Rings
Chapter 'The Passage of the Marshes'. |
It had always been a notion of his that the kindness of dear
Mr. Frodo was of such a high degree that it must imply a fair
measure of blindness... Gollum in his own way, and with much
more excuse as his acquaintance was much briefer, may have made
a similar mistake, confusing kindness and blindness.
The Lord of the Rings
Sam on the kindness of Frodo, Chapter
'The Black Gate is Closed'. |
He had all the injured air of a liar suspected when for once
he has told the truth, or part of it.
The Lord of the Rings
On Gollum, Chapter 'The Black Gate is Closed'. |
It was Sam's first view of a battle of Men against Men, and
he did not like it much. He was glad that he could not see the
dead face. He wondered what the man's name was and where he
came from; and if he was really evil of heart, or what lies
or threats had led him on the long march from his home; and
if he would not really rather have stayed there in peace.
The Lord of the Rings
Chapter 'Of Herbs and Stewed Rabbit'. |
I would not snare even an orc with a falsehood.
The Lord of the Rings
Faramir to Frodo, Chapter 'The Window on
the West'. |
It's a pity that folk as talk about fighting the Enemy can't
let others do their bit in their own way without interfering.
He'd be mighty pleased, if he could see you now. Think he'd
got a new friend, he would.
The Lord of the Rings
Sam to Faramir, Chapter 'The Window on
the West'. |
"For myself," said Faramir, "I would see the
White Tree in flower again in the courts of the kings, and the
Silver Crown return, and Minas Tirith in peace: Minas Anor again
as of old, full of light, high and fair, beautiful as a queen
among other queens."
The Lord of the Rings
Chapter 'The Window on the West'. |
War must be, while we defend our lives against a destroyer
who would devour all; but I do not love the bright sword for
its sharpness, nor the arrow for its swiftness, nor the warrior
for his glory. I love only that which they defend.
The Lord of the Rings
Faramir, Chapter 'The Window on the West'. |
We are truth-speakers, we men of Gondor. We boast seldom,
and then perform, or die in the attempt. Not if I found it
on the highway would I take it I said. Even if I were such
a man as to desire this thing, and even though I knew not clearly
what this thing was when I spoke, still I should take those
words as a vow, and be held by them.
The Lord of the Rings
Faramir, Chapter 'The Window on the West'. |
I am wise enough to know that there are some perils from which
a man must flee.
The Lord of the Rings
Faramir, Chapter 'The Window on the West'. |
The praise of the praiseworthy is above all rewards.
The Lord of the Rings
Faramir, Chapter 'The Window on the West'. |
"We are lost, lost," said Gollum. "No name,
no business, no Precious, nothing. Only empty. Only hungry;
yes, we are hungry. A few little fishes, nasty bony little fishes,
for a poor creature, and they say death. So wise they are; so
just, so very just."
The Lord of the Rings
Chapter 'The Forbidden Pool'. |
They cannot conquer for ever!
The Lord of the Rings
Frodo when he sees the crown of flowers
on the fallen king's head, Chapter 'Journey to the Crossroads'. |
Who can now hold the fords when the King of the Nine Riders
comes? And other armies will come. I am too late. All is lost.
I tarried on the way. All is lost. Even if my errand is performed,
no one will ever know. There will be no one I can tell. It will
be in vain.
The Lord of the Rings
Frodo thinking, Chapter 'The Stairs of
Cirith Ungol'. |
The brave things in the old tales and songs, Mr. Frodo: adventures,
as I used to call them. I used to think that they were things
the wonderful folk of the stories went out and looked for, because
they wanted them, because they were exciting and life was a
bit dull, a kind of a sport, as you might say. But that's not
the way of it with the tales that really mattered, or the ones
that stay in the mind. Folk seem to have been just landed in
them, usually — their paths were laid that way, as you
put it.
The Lord of the Rings
Sam, Chapter 'The Stairs of Cirith Ungol'. |
And that's the way of a real tale. Take any one that you're
fond of. You may know, or guess, what kind of a tale it is,
happy-ending or sad-ending, but the people in it don't know.
And you don't want them to.
The Lord of the Rings
Frodo, Chapter 'The Stairs of Cirith Ungol'. |
I wonder if we shall ever be put into songs or tales. We're
in one, or course; but I mean: put into words, you know, told
by the fireside, or read out of a great big book with red and
black letters, years and years afterwards. And people will say:
"Let's hear about Frodo and the Ring!" And they'll
say: "Yes, that's one of my favourite stories. Frodo was
very brave. wasn't he, dad?" "Yes, my boy, the famousest
of the hobbits, and that's saying a lot."
The Lord of the Rings
Sam, Chapter 'The Stairs of Cirith Ungol'. |
"Why, Sam," he said, "to hear you somehow makes
me as merry as if the story was already written. But you've
left out one of the chief characters: Samwise the stouthearted.
"I want to hear more about Sam, dad. Why didn't they put
in more of his talk, dad? That's what I like, it makes me laugh.
And Frodo wouldn't have got far without Sam, would he, dad?"
The Lord of the Rings
Frodo, Chapter 'The Stairs of Cirith Ungol'. |
For a fleeting moment, could one of the sleepers have seen
him, they would have thought that they beheld an old weary hobbit,
shrunken by the years that had carried him far beyond his time,
beyond friends and kin, and the fields and streams of youth,
an old starved pitiable thing.
The Lord of the Rings
Gollum as he looks at the others sleeping,
Chapter 'The Stairs of Cirith Ungol'. |
The fleeting moment had passed, beyond recall. "Sneaking,
sneaking!" he hissed. "Hobbits always so polite, yes.
O nice hobbits! Sméagol brings them up secret ways that
nobody else could find. Tired he is, thirsty he is, yes thirsty;
and he guides them and he searches for paths, and they say sneak,
sneak. Very nice friends, O yes my precious, very nice."
The Lord of the Rings
Gollum, Chapter 'The Stairs of Cirith Ungol'. |
The Ring'll be found, and there'll be no more songs.
The Lord of the Rings
Sam thinking, Chapter 'The Stairs of Cirith
Ungol'. |
Why am I left all alone to make up my mind? I'm sure to go
wrong. And it's not for me to go taking the Ring, putting myself
forward.
But you haven't put yourself forward; you've been put forward.
And as for not being the right and proper person, why, Mr. Frodo
wasn't, as you might say, nor Mr. Bilbo. They didn't choose
themselves.
The Lord of the Rings
Sam agonizes about what to do in a conversation
with himself as he composes Frodo's body, Chapter 'The Choices
of Master Samwise'. |
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