Tolkien the talk
★ THEY’RE not a light read – but if you can wrap your eyes around a book by J.R.R Tolkien, left, like The Lord of the Rings saga, then escaping to a magical world is guaranteed. Today is Tolkien Reading Day – where it’s encouraged to peel back the pages and absorb yourself in his unique words.
★ Here KIM CARR shares some famous quotes from Middle Earth and its creator…
1 “All that is gold does not glitter, not all those who wander are lost; the old that is strong does not wither, deep roots are not reached by the frost.”
2 “All we have to do decide is what to do with the time that is given to us.”
3 “Short cuts make long delays.”
4 “I don’t know half of you half as well as I should like, and I like less than half of you half as well as you deserve.”
5 “A friend of mine tells that I talk in shorthand and then smudge it.”
6 “Courage is found in unlikely places.”
7 “Faithless is he that says farewell when the road darkens.”
8 “The proper study of Man is anything but Man; and the most improper job of any man, even saints (who at any rate were at least unwilling to take it on), is bossing other men. Not one in a million is fit for it, and least of all those who seek the opportunity.”
9 “Do not meddle in the affairs of wizards, for they are subtle and quick to anger.”
10 “If more of us valued food and cheer and song above hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world.”
11 “A pen is to me as a beak is to a hen.”
12 “Many children make up or begin to make up imaginary languages. I have been at it since I could write.”
13 “I never liked Hans Christian Andersen because I knew he was always getting at me.”
14 “I should like to save the Shire, if I could – though there have been times when I thought the inhabitants too stupid and dull for words and have felt that an earthquake or invasion of dragons might be good for them.”
15 “The wide world is all about you, you can fence yourselves in but you cannot fence it out.”
16 “It may be the part of a friend to rebuke a friend’s folly.”
17 “I dislike allegory – the conscious and intentional allegory – yet any attempts to explain the purport of myth or fairytale must use allegorical language.”
18 “Middle English is an exciting field, almost uncharted I begin to think because as soon as one turns detailed personal attention to any little corner of it the received notions and ideas seem to crumple up and fall to pieces.”
19 “Don’t go getting mixed up in the business of your betters or you’ll land in trouble too big for you.”
20 “Do not go to the Elves for counsel for they will say both no and yes.”