The world was fair, the mountains tallIn Elder Days before t... - J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring

"It is not despair, for despair is only for those who see the end beyond all doubt. We do not."

"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."

"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."

"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."

"I wish it need not have happened in my time,"said Frodo."So do I,"said Gandalf, "and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us."