Pity and Mercy

What a pity that Bilbo did not stab that vile creature, when he had a chance!”

“Pity? It was Pity that stayed his hand. Pity, and Mercy: not to strike without need. And he has been well rewarded, Frodo. Be sure that he took so little hurt from the evil, and escaped in the end, because he began his ownership of the Ring so. With Pity.”

“I am sorry,” said Frodo. “But I am frightened; and I do not feel any pity for Gollum.”

“You have not seen him,” Gandalf broke in.

“No, and I don’t want to,” said Frodo. I can’t understand you. Do you mean to say that you, and the Elves, have let him live on after all those horrible deeds? Now at any rate he is as bad as an Orc, and just an enemy. He deserves death.”

“Deserves it! I daresay he does. Many that live deserve death. And some that die deserve life. Can you give it to them? Then do not be too eager to deal out death in judgment. For even the very wise cannot see all ends. I have not much hope that Gollum can be cured before he dies, but there is a chance of it. And he is bound up with the fate of the Ring. My heart tells me that he has some part to play yet, for good or ill, before the end; and when that comes, the pity of Bilbo may rule the fate of many – yours not least.

J. R. R. Tolkien – The Fellowship of the Ring, Book 1, Chapter 2

Living Things

“Living things must constantly be broken up and destroyed; it is only the dead things than can be left alone.”

G. K. Chesterton – “The Riddle of the Restoration” Lunacy and Letters

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

“Amphibians”

“Humans are amphibians – half spirit and half animal. As spirits they belong to the eternal world, but as animals they inhabit time.”

C. S. Lewis

Leaving Without Regret

“Has this world been so kind to you that you should leave with regret? There are better things ahead than any we leave behind.”

C. S. Lewis

Groaning of Creation

“There I lay staring upward, while the stars wheeled over… Faint to my ears came the gathered rumour of all lands: the springing and the dying, the song and the weeping, and the slow everlasting groan of overburdened stone.”

J. R. R. Tolkien (1892 – 1973)

Life is Too Short

‘I wish life was not so short,’ he thought. ‘Languages take such a time, and so do all the things one wants to know about.’
J. R. R. Tolkien (1892 – 1973), The Lost Road

Mystery of Life

“The mystery of life is the plainest part of it.”

G. K. Chesterton

Tree of Theology

“People will tell you that theology became too elaborate because it was dead. Believe me, if it had been dead it would never have become elaborate; it is only the live tree that grows too many branches.”

G. K. Chesterton, “The Hat and the Halo” The Thing

The Swing of the Pendulum

“The whole curse of the last century has been what is called the Swing of the Pendulum; that is, the idea that Man must go alternately from one extreme to the other. It is a shameful and even shocking fancy; it is the denial of the whole dignity of mankind. When Man is alive he stands still. It is only when he is dead that he swings.”

G. K. Chesterton, “The New House” Alarms and Discursions