Where many paths and errands meet

“The Road goes ever on and on
Down from the door where it began.
Now far ahead the Road has gone,
And I must follow, if I can,
Pursuing it with eager feet,
Until it joins some larger way
Where many paths and errands meet.
And whither then? I cannot say.”

J. R. R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring

Making Plans

“It does not do to leave a live dragon out of your calculations, if you live near him.”

J. R. R. Tolkien, from The Hobbit

chance of turning back

“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 just landed in them, usually – their paths were laid that way, as you put it. But I expect they had lots of chances, like us, of turning back, only they didn’t. And if they had, we shouldn’t know, because they’d have been forgotten. We hear about those as just went on – and not all to a good end, mind you; at least not to what folk inside a story and not outside it call a good end”

J. R. R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings

How to stay an Athiest

“A young man who wishes to remain a sound atheist cannot be too careful of his reading.”

C. S. Lewis

Will they tell your story?

“But I expect they had lots of chances, like us, of turning back, only they didn’t. And if they had, we shouldn’t know, because they’d have been forgotten. We hear about those as just went on — and not all to a good end, mind you; at least not to what folk inside a story and not outside it call a good end.”

J. R. R. Tolkien (1892 – 1973), The Lord of the Rings

Keep your nose where it belongs

“Do not meddle in the affairs of wizards, for they are subtle and quick to anger.”

J. R. R. Tolkien

Fairy Tales and Dragons

“Fairy Tales are more than true; not because they tell us that dragons exist, but because they tell us that dragons can be beaten.”

G. K. Chesterton