Great Throughts Treasury

This site is dedicated to the memory of Dr. Alan William Smolowe who gave birth to the creation of this database.

Related Quotes

J. B. S. Haldane, fully John Burdon Sanderson Haldane

A man is free in proportion as his perceptions and his actions express his personality in spite of the variety of forms which perceptions and motives take.

Worry |

J. R. R. Tolkien, fully John Ronald Reuel Tolkien

And here you will stay, Gandalf the Grey, and rest from journeys. For I am Saruman the Wise, Saruman the Ring-maker, Saruman of Many Colors! I looked then and saw that his robes, which had seemed white, were not so, but were woven of all colors, and if he moved they shimmered and changed hue so that the eye was bewildered.

Service | Woman |

J. R. R. Tolkien, fully John Ronald Reuel Tolkien

But do you remember Gandalf?s words: Even Gollum may have something yet to do? But for him, Sam, I could not have destroyed the Ring. The Quest would have been in vain, even at the bitter end. So let us forgive him! For the Quest is achieved, and now all is over. I am glad you are here with me. Here at the end of all things, Sam

Men | Will |

J. R. R. Tolkien, fully John Ronald Reuel Tolkien

I wish it need not have happened in my time, said Frodo.

Hero | Woman |

J. R. R. Tolkien, fully John Ronald Reuel Tolkien

Hobbits always so polite, yes! O nice hobbits! Smeagol 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 saw sneak, sneak. Very nice friends, O yes my precious, very nice. Sam felt a little remorseful, but not yet trustful. Sorry, he said. I'm sorry, but you startled me out of my sleep. And I shouldn't have been sleeping, and that made me sharp. But Mr. Frodo, he's that tired, I asked him to have a wink; and well, that's how it is. Sorry. But where HAVE you been to? Sneaking, said Gollum, and the green glint did not leave his eyes? Hullo, Smeagol! Frodo said. Found any food? Have you had any rest? No food, no rest, nothing for Smeagol, said Gollum. He's a sneak. Don't take names to yourself, Smeagol, Frodo said. It's unwise, whether they are true or false. Smeagol has to take what's given to him, answered Gollum. He was given that name by kind Master Samwise, the hobbit that knows so much.

Will |

J. R. R. Tolkien, fully John Ronald Reuel Tolkien

Indeed if fish had fish-lore and Wise-fish, it is probable that the business of anglers would be very little hindered.

J. R. R. Tolkien, fully John Ronald Reuel Tolkien

I wished to be loved by another,' [owyn] answered. 'But I desire no man's pity.

Men | Will |

J. R. R. Tolkien, fully John Ronald Reuel Tolkien

Is it not a strange fate that we should suffer so much fear and doubt for so small a thing? So small a thing! And I have seen it only for an instant in the house of Elrond! Could I not have a sight of it again? Frodo looked up. His heart went suddenly cold. He caught the strange gleam in Boromir's eyes, yet his face was still kind and friendly. It is best that it should lie hidden, he answered. As you wish. I care not. said Boromir.

Woman |

J. R. R. Tolkien, fully John Ronald Reuel Tolkien

If I am to understand that you are enquiring whether I am of Jewish origin, I can only reply that I regret that I appear to have no ancestors of that gifted people. My great-great-grandfather came to England in the eighteenth century from Germany: the main part of my descent is therefore purely English, and I am an English subject?which should be sufficient. I have been accustomed, nonetheless, to regard my German name with pride, and continued to do so throughout the period of the late regrettable war, in which I served in the English army. I cannot, however, forbear to comment that if impertinent and irrelevant inquiries of this sort are to become the rule in matters of literature, then the time is not far distant when a German name will no longer be a source of pride.

Man | Woman | Worth |

J. R. R. Tolkien, fully John Ronald Reuel Tolkien

I perceived or thought of the Light of God and in it suspended one small mote (or millions of motes to only one of which was my small mind directed), glittering white because of the individual ray from the Light which both held and lit it...And the ray was the Guardian Angel of the mote: not a thing interposed between God and the creature, but God's very attention itself, personalized...This is a finite parallel to the Infinite. As the love of the Father and Son (who are infinite and equal) is a Person, so the love and attention of the Light to the Mote is a person (that is both with us and in Heaven): finite but divine, i.e. angelic.

Men |

J. R. R. Tolkien, fully John Ronald Reuel Tolkien

I hope I never smell the smell of apples again! said Fili. My tub was full of ut. To smell apples everlastingly when you can scarcely move and are cold and sick with hunger is maddening. I could eat anything in the wide world now for hours on end - but not an apple!

Woman |