Middle English is an exciting field – almost uncharted, I begin to think, because as soon as one turns detailed personal attention on to any little corner of it, the received notions and ideas seem to crumple up and fall to pieces – as far as language goes, at any rate. J. R. R. Tolkien Read Quote
Don’t go getting mixed up in the business of your betters, or you’ll land in trouble too big for you. J. R. R. Tolkien Read Quote
I dislike Allegory – the conscious and intentional allegory – yet any attempt to explain the purport of myth or fairytale must use allegorical language. J. R. R. Tolkien Read Quote
The original ‘Hobbit’ was never intended to have a sequel – Bilbo ‘remained very happy to the end of his days and those were extraordinarily long’: a sentence I find an almost insuperable obstacle to a satisfactory link. J. R. R. Tolkien Read Quote
I never liked Hans Christian Andersen because I knew he was always getting at me. J. R. R. Tolkien Read Quote
Many children make up, or begin to make up, imaginary languages. I have been at it since I could write. J. R. R. Tolkien Read Quote
In October 1920 I went to Leeds as Reader in English Language, with a free commission to develop the linguistic side of a large and growing School of English Studies, in which no regular provision had as yet been made for the linguistic specialist. J. R. R. Tolkien Read Quote
It is plain indeed that in spite of later estrangement Hobbits are relatives of ours: far nearer to us than Elves, or even than Dwarves. Of old they spoke the languages of Men, after their own fashion, and liked and disliked much the same things as Men did. But what exactly our relationship is can no longer be discovered. J. R. R. Tolkien Read Quote
