“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.”
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.
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John Ronald Reuel Tolkien 78
British philologist and author, creator of classic fantasy … 1892–1973Related quotes
“Decide what you stand for. And then stand for it all the time.”
“Living is a constant process of deciding what we are going to do.”
“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)
“You can do what you decide to do — but you cannot decide what you will decide to do.”
Free Will
Variant: You can do what you decide to do—but you cannot decide what you will decide to do.
Source: "Interview with Mustafa Dzemilev at the UN Security Council" https://euromaidanpress.com/2014/04/02/interview-with-mustafa-dzemilev-at-the-un-security-council/ (2 April 2014)
CMU Graduation speech (2008)
Context: We don't beat the reaper by living longer, but by living well, and living fully — for the reaper will come for all of us. The question is: what do we do between the time we're born and the time he shows up. Because when he shows up, it’s too late to do all the things that you’re always gonna, kinda get around to.
Source: The Next 100 Years: A Forecast for the 21st Century (2009), p. 252
“The people do not decide issues, they decide who shall decide.”
Column, January 15, 2009, "Of Judges, By Judges, For Judges" http://www.jewishworldreview.com/cols/will.html at jewishworldreview.com.
2000s