This site is dedicated to the memory of Dr. Alan William Smolowe who gave birth to the creation of this database.
J. R. R. Tolkien, fully John Ronald Reuel Tolkien
At least for a while 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 such 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.
Change | Children | Controversy | Labor | Public | Work | Worry | Child | Learn |
J. B. Priestly, fully John Boynton Priestly
We should like to have some towering geniuses, to reveal us to ourselves in color and fire, but of course they would have to fit into the pattern of our society and be able to take orders from sound administrative types.
J. B. Priestly, fully John Boynton Priestly
The wisdom of one generation will be the folly of the next.
J. R. R. Tolkien, fully John Ronald Reuel Tolkien
Are you in pain, Frodo?' said Gandalf quietly as he rode by Frodo's side. 'Well, yes I am,' said Frodo. 'It is my shoulder. The wound aches, and the memory of darkness is heavy on me. It was a year ago today.' 'Alas! there are some wounds that cannot be wholly cured,' said Gandalf. 'I fear it may be so with mine,' said Frodo. 'There is no real going back. Though I may come to the Shire, it will not seem the same; for I shall not be the same. I am wounded with knife, sting, and tooth, and a long burden. Where shall I find rest?' Gandalf did not answer.
J. R. R. Tolkien, fully John Ronald Reuel Tolkien
Although now long estranged, Man is not wholly lost nor wholly changed. Dis-graced he may be, yet is not de-throned, and keeps the rags of lordship once he owned: Man, Sub-creator, the refracted Light through whom is splintered from a single White to many hues, and endlessly combined in living shapes that move from mind to mind. Though all the crannies of the world we filled with Elves and Goblins, though we dared to build Gods and their houses out of dark and light, and sowed the seed of dragons- 'twas our right (used or misused). That right has not decayed: we make still by the law in which we're made. Fantasy remains a human right: we make in our measure and in our derivative mode, because we are made: and not only made, but made in the image and likeness of a Maker.
J. R. R. Tolkien, fully John Ronald Reuel Tolkien
But no living man am I You look upon a woman. Owyn I am, Omunds daughter. You stand between me and my lord and kin. Begone, if you be not deathless For living or dark undead, I will smite you, if you touch him.
Children | Control | Good | Government | Parents | Slavery | Government |
J. B. Priestly, fully John Boynton Priestly
The greater part of critics are parasites, who, if nothing had been written, would find nothing to write.
J. R. R. Tolkien, fully John Ronald Reuel Tolkien
And as the captains gazed south to the Land of Mordor, it seemed to them that, black against the pall of cloud, there rose a huge shape of shadow, impenetrable, lightning-crowned, filling all the sky. Enormous it reared above the world, and stretched out towards them a vast threatening hand, terrible but impotent: for even as it leaned over them, a great wind took it, and it was all blown away, and passed; and then a hush fell.
J. R. R. Tolkien, fully John Ronald Reuel Tolkien
An author cannot of course remain wholly unaffected by his experience, but the ways in which a story-germ uses the soil of experience are extremely complex, and attempts to define the process are at best guesses from evidence that is inadequate and ambiguous.
J. R. R. Tolkien, fully John Ronald Reuel Tolkien
He led the way in under the huge branches of the trees. Old beyond guessing, they seemed. Great trailing beards of lichen hung from them, blowing and swaying in the breeze. Out of the shadows, the hobbits peeped, gazing back down the slope: little furtive figures that in the dim light looked like elf-children in the deeps of time peering out of the Wild Wood in wonder at their first Dawn.
J. R. R. Tolkien, fully John Ronald Reuel Tolkien
For we put the thought of all that we love into all that we make.
J. R. R. Tolkien, fully John Ronald Reuel Tolkien
He did not know it, but Arwen Und¢miel was also there, dwelling again for a time with the kin of her mother. She was little changed, for the mortal years had passed her by, yet her face was more grave, and her laughter now seldom was heard. But Aragorn was grown to full stature of body and mind, and Galadriel bade him cast aside his wayworn raiment, and she clothed him in silver and white, with a cloak of elven-grey and a bright gem on his brow. Then more than any kind of Men he appeared, and seemed rather an Elf-lord from the Isles of the West. And thus it was that Arwen first beheld him again after their long parting; and as he came walking towards her under the trees of Caras Galadhon laden with flowers of gold, her choice was made and her doom appointed.
Future |
J. R. R. Tolkien, fully John Ronald Reuel Tolkien
GANDALF: Confound it all, Samwise Gamgee. Have you been eavesdropping? SAM: I ain't been droppin' no eaves sir, honest. I was just cutting the grass under the window there, if you'll follow me. GANDALF: A little late for trimming the verge, don't you think? SAM: I heard raised voices. GANDALF: What did you hear? Speak. SAM: N-nothing important. That is, I heard a good deal about a ring, and a Dark Lord, and something about the end of the world, but... Please, Mr. Gandalf, sir, don't hurt me. Don't turn me into anything... unnatural.