#You have to realize how much Tolkien had refused to break or lose his faith in people despite being in the Trenches of World War 1

[lumi-waxes-poetic]

Some Tolkien affirmations to help you along when the darkness seems too much and everything seems lost

"The world may be grim, but there's always hope. Even in the darkest of days, there may be one bright star to guide you."

—Elrond

"It is not despair, but only the handing on of a torch."

—Aragorn

"The greatest good returns at last to those who share it freely."

—Gandalf

"It is not by sorrow and by suffering that we grow. It is by the choice we make when faced with sorrow and suffering."

—Fëanor

"The world is changed because I am in it."

—Bilbo Baggins

bonus round (Tolkien never actually wrote this — Peter Jackson did — but it's a good fucking line and Tolkien would have 100% agreed with it):

“Saruman believes it is only great power that can hold evil in check, but that is not what I have found. I found it is the small everyday deeds of ordinary folk that keep the darkness at bay. Small acts of kindness and love."

— Gandalf

#You have to realize how much Tolkien had refused to break or lose his faith in people despite being in the Trenches of World War 1 #Specifically: he was there for the Battle of the Somme — the war at its absolute worst #He arrived two weeks after it started + lost two best friends + was medivac'd out only a month before the battle ended #Hell was his everyday experience for four months #until he was injured badly enough to merit (even in the eyes of the horrifically cruel military standards of the age) sending him home #He saw mankind at its darkest and worst ever #he lost things and people who were precious to him — and in horrific ways we will hopefully never have to know firsthand #and yet through it all and after he refused to lose his hope and faith even though nobody would have blamed him if he had #in fact he came to believe that seeing mankind at its worst made hope and optimism and faith more important than ever before #AND IT MOVED HIM TO WRITE THIS #And then World War II happened (AND THE HOLOCAUST) #and far from convincing him that he was wrong #it just made him more certain that he was right #what a goddamn Chad #that John Ronald Reuel Tolkien #quotes #the hobbit #gandalf #jrr tolkien #j.r.r. tolkien #optimism #inspiration