J. R. R. Tolkien

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John Ronald Reuel Tolkien (3 January 1892 - 2 September 1973) English author and linguist.

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"Nothing has astonished me more (and I think my publishers) than the welcome given to The Lord of the Rings. But it is, of course, a constant source of consolation and pleasure to me. And, I may say, a piece of singular good fortune, much envied by some of my contemporaries. Wonderful people still buy the book, and to a man 'retired' that is both grateful and comforting."
- 30 June 1955 letter to Houghton Mifflin Co, quoted in The Letters of J. R. R. Tolkien, no. 165.
- Also quoted in 'Tolkien on Tolkien' in Diplomat magazine October 1966.

"'I wish life was not so short,' he thought. 'Languages take such a time, and so do all the things one wants to know about.'"
- Alboin Errol, in The Lost Road
- Compare this with "The lyf so short, the craft so longe to lerne" by Geoffrey Chaucer

"I have claimed that Escape is one of the main functions of fairy-stories, and since I do not disapprove of them, it is plain that I do not accept the tone of scorn or pity with which 'Escape' is now so often used. Why should a man be scorned if, finding himself in prison, he tries to get out and go home? Or if he cannot do so, he thinks and talks about other topics than jailers and prison-walls?
- On Fairy-Stories, 1938 Andrew Lang Lecture, University of St. Andrews

"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.
- The Letters of J. R. R. Tolkien, no. 247

"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. . ."
- The Letters of J. R. R. Tolkien, no. 214, a letter to W.H. Auden in 1955, about Tolkien's discovery of Finnish language.

"My advice to all who have the time or inclination to concern themselves with the international language movement would be: 'Back Esperanto loyally.'"
- A Philologist on Esperanto in The British Esperantist (1922)

"Volapük, Esperanto, Ido, Novial, are dead, far deader than ancient unused languages, because their authors never invented any Esperanto legends."
- The Letters of J. R. R. Tolkien, no. 180

"Nearly all marriages, even happy ones, are mistakes: in the sense that almost certainly (in a more perfect world, or even with a little more care in this very imperfect one) both partners might be found more suitable mates. But the real soul-mate is the one you are actually married to."
- Letter to Michael Tolkien, March, 1941