John Ronald Reuel Tolkien: Likeness

John Ronald Reuel Tolkien was British philologist and author, creator of classic fantasy works. Explore interesting quotes on likeness.
John Ronald Reuel Tolkien: 156   quotes 112   likes

“I am doubtful myself about the undertaking. Part of the attraction of the L. R. is, I think, due to the glimpses of a large history in the background: an attraction like that of viewing far off an unvisited island, or seeing the towers of a distant city gleaming in a sunlit mist. To go there is to destroy the magic, unless new unattainable vistas are again revealed. Also many of the older legends are purely 'mythological', and nearly all are grim and tragic: a long account of the disasters that destroyed the beauty of the Ancient World, from the darkening of Valinor to the Downfall of Númenor and the flight of Elendil.”

John Ronald Reuel Tolkien

No. 247: To Colonel Worskett (20 September 1963)
The Letters of J. R. R. Tolkien (1981)

World , Beauty , History , Thinking

“All tales may come true; and yet, at the last, redeemed, they may be as like and unlike the forms that we give them as Man, finally redeemed, will be like and unlike the fallen that we know.”

John Ronald Reuel Tolkien book On Fairy-Stories

On Fairy-Stories (1939)
Context: The Evangelium has not abrogated legends; it has hallowed them, especially the "happy ending." The Christian has still to work, with mind as well as body, to suffer, hope, and die; but he may now perceive that all his bents and faculties have a purpose, which can be redeemed. So great is the bounty with which he has been treated that he may now, perhaps, fairly dare to guess that in Fantasy he may actually assist in the effoliation and multiple enrichment of creation. All tales may come true; and yet, at the last, redeemed, they may be as like and unlike the forms that we give them as Man, finally redeemed, will be like and unlike the fallen that we know.

“Fantasy remains a human right: we make in our measure and in our derivative mode, because we are made: and not only made, but made in the image and likeness of a Maker.”

John Ronald Reuel Tolkien book On Fairy-Stories

On Fairy-Stories (1939)

“In Paradise perchance the eye may stray
from gazing upon everlasting Day
to see the day illumined, and renew
from mirrored truth the likeness of the True.”

John Ronald Reuel Tolkien

Mythopoeia (1931)

Truth

“You can make the Ring an allegory of our own time, if you like: an allegory of the inevitable fate that awaits all attempts to defeat evil power by power. But that is only because all power magical or mechanical does always so work.”

John Ronald Reuel Tolkien

Letter to his publisher (31 July 1947); published in The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien (1981), Letter 109

Fate , Evil , Time

“I am in fact a Hobbit (in all but size). I like gardens, trees, and unmechanized farmlands; I smoke a pipe, and like good plain food (unrefrigerated), but detest French cooking; I like, and even dare to wear in these dull days, ornamental waistcoats. I am fond of mushrooms (out of a field); have a very simple sense of humor (which even my appreciative critics find tiresome); I go to bed late and get up late (when possible). I do not travel much.”

John Ronald Reuel Tolkien

Letter to Deborah Webster (25 October 1958)

Food , Travel , Sense , Tree

“The Lord of the Rings is of course a fundamentally religious and Catholic work; unconsciously so at first, but consciously in the revision. That is why I have not put in, or have cut out, practically all references to anything like 'religion', to cults or practices, in the imaginary world. For the religious element is absorbed into the story and the symbolism.”

John Ronald Reuel Tolkien

No. 142: letter to his friend Robert Murray, S.J. (December 1953)
The Letters of J. R. R. Tolkien (1981)

World , Religion

“It was like discovering a complete wine-filled cellar filled with bottles of an amazing wine of a kind and flavor never tasted before. It quite intoxicated me….”

John Ronald Reuel Tolkien

No. 163: On his discovery of Finnish language, in a letter to W. H. Auden (1955)
The Letters of J. R. R. Tolkien (1981)

Wine

“I liked him better than all the other characters, and much more so than Frodo.”

John Ronald Reuel Tolkien

Speaking of Gollum. From J. R. R. Tolkien: An Audio Portrait, BBC Radio Collection (2001), ISBN 0-563-53692-6. CD 1, track 17.

“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.”

John Ronald Reuel Tolkien