A Few of My Favorite Quotes from The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings Trilogy

Charlotte Mason encouraged her students to keep something she calls a Book of Mottoes, or a Commonplace Book. She says, “In the reading of the Bible, of poetry, of the best prose, the culling of mottoes is a delightful and most stimulating occupation, especially if a motto book be kept, perhaps under headings, perhaps not.” I keep a Commonplace Book in Charlotte Mason-fashion. I use my Book to write down my own poems and music, sermon notes, lecture notes from Bible studies, book studies, and The Habit, story ideas, funny things my kids say, recipes I create, lists of things I need to do or buy, journal entries, schedules, and quotes I like from whatever books I’m reading at the time. Here’s a picture of my Book next to my copy of The Hobbit:

The following quotes from The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings Trilogy come directly from my Commonplace Book. I’ll also include a quick note about why I found the quote memorable and meaningful.

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“Bilbo…got something a bit queer in his make-up from the Took side, something that only waited for a chance to come out. The chance never arrived, until Bilbo Baggins was grown up…”
The Hobbit, pg. 5

I think this quote could describe any late-bloomer. I think of myself when I read it: I’ve always wanted to write more often and didn’t decide to finally do it until last year (as a 34-year-old); I’ve always wanted a place to post my music online and didn’t take the time to find one, until a couple years ago, when I started this website and discovered that I could post audio files. And someday, I’ll be in a musical!

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“Farewell wherever you fair till your eyrie’s receive you at the journey’s end…May the wind under your wings bear you where the sun sails and the moon walks.”
The Hobbit, pg. 104

I think this is a beautiful way to say goodbye.

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“The wide world is all about: you can fence yourselves in, but you cannot forever fence it out.”
The Fellowship of the Ring, pg. 82, said by Gildor to Frodo

This is a good principal for Christian parents, including me, to remember. Yes, we can fence in our children, but someday, somehow, they will know what the wide world is about–the wide world will come to them. We must teach our children how they can engage with the world in a way that honors God instead of sheltering them from the coming storms.

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“‘Courage is found in unlikely places,’ said Gildor. ‘Be of good hope.'”
The Fellowship of the Ring, pg. 83

This is a great example of foreshadowing, and makes me think of Sam coming into his own when he battles Shelob and rescues Frodo from the tower of the orcs. Tolkien shows that the hobbits always have hope, even in the darkest circumstances.

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“We are horribly afraid–but we are coming with you; or following you like hounds.”
The Fellowship of the Ring, pg. 103, said by Merry to Frodo

The Lord of the Rings trilogy proves over and over again the bravery and stout-heartedness of hobbits–or, proves over and over again the bravery and stout-heartedness of anyone who loves what is true, beautiful, and good, no matter how small or insignificant others may perceive them to be. The hobbits didn’t let anyone else determine what they could or could not do. They made their own decisions and stuck to them no matter what obstacles loomed up in front of them–and they encountered many obstacles. I tend to belittle my own gifts and abilities, and to view myself as small and insignificant, and in this area of my life I need to be more hobbit-like.

This quote also shows what true friends Merry and Pippin are to Frodo. They admit that they are terrified, but they don’t let that stop them from going along with Frodo and Sam. This determination helps them with the difficult things they must do later in the story.

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“Good and ill have not changed since yesteryear; nor are they one thing among Elves and Dwarves, and another among Men. It is a man’s part to discern them, as much as in the Golden Wood as in his own house.”
The Two Towers, pg. 428, said by Aragorn to Eomer about what to do during such strange times

What I found meaningful about this quote is that good things can be done by those living in the Golden Wood and those living in Rohan, or really those living anywhere here or in Middle Earth. God gives each of us certain gifts and calls us each to certain vocations. We can do good–we can glorify God–right where He places us. The elves living in the Golden Wood work to keep alive the beauty of the world; the men living in Rohan fight the evil lurking amidst their fields and halls. They both preserve the world yet in different ways, and both ways are good.

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“It is best to love first what you are fitted to love, I suppose: you must start somewhere and have some roots, and the soil of the Shire is deep. Still there are things deeper and higher; and not a gaffer could tend his garden in what he calls peace but for them, whether he knows about them or not. I am glad that I know about them, a little. But I don’t know why I am talking like this. Where is that leaf? And get my pipe out of the pack, if it isn’t broken.”
The Return of the King, pg. 852, said by Merry to Pippin after Aragorn wakes him up from the darkness

What I find memorable about this quote is that Merry illustrates his own point. He says “it is best to love what you are fitted to love,” and after he talks for a while about the world beyond the Shire, he goes right back to what he is best-fitted to love: the Shire, which in this case Tolkien shows by Merry wanting some leaf and his pipe. I am best-fitted to love teaching, music, and nature, and when I stray too far from those things I begin to flounder; I think because I’m not doing what God created me to do and all those things bring me so much joy. I can do them in many different capacities–motherhood, church, and playing with the the kids outside come to mind–but what matters the most is that I do them.