He that breaks a thing to find out what it is has left the p... - J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring

"The world was fair, the mountains tallIn Elder Days before the fall..."

"All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us."

"I will take the Ring", he said, "though I do not know the way."

"The world is indeed full of peril, and in it there are many dark places; but still there is much that is fair, and though in all lands love is now mingled with grief, it grows perhaps the greater."

"Have you thought of an ending?""Yes, several, and all are dark and unpleasant.""Oh, that won't do! Books ought to have good endings. How would this do: and they all settled down and lived together happily ever after?""It will do well, if it ever came to that.""Ah! And where will they live? That's what I often wonder."