
Context: Frodo: I wish the Ring had never come to me. I wish none of this had happened.
Gandalf: 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 to us.
Reflections on Various Subjects (1665–1678), III. On Taste
Context: Some have a species of instinct (the source of which they are ignorant of), and decide all questions that come before them by its aid, and always decide rightly. These follow their taste more than their intelligence, because they do not permit their temper and self-love to prevail over their natural discernment. All they do is in harmony, all is in the same spirit. This harmony makes them decide correctly on matters, and form a correct estimate of their value. But speaking generally there are few who have a taste fixed and independent of that of their friends, they follow example and fashion which generally form the standard of taste.
Context: Frodo: I wish the Ring had never come to me. I wish none of this had happened.
Gandalf: 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 to us.
“With love, there are no rules. The heart decides and what it decides is all that really matters.”
“Not prejudge others – not decide their value before knowing them.”
Source: Think Big (1996), p. 197
Journal entry, August 1, 1835
1830s, The Journals of Søren Kierkegaard, 1830s
“Now it is no longer a matter of deciding what to do, but of deciding how to decide.”
Source: Love and Will (1969), Ch. 1 : Introduction : Our Schizoid World, p. 15
“Take all the time you need
It's a lovely night
If you decide to come
You're gonna do it right.”
"Busy Doin' Nothin'"
Friends (1968)