PicoBlog

Dear readers,

I’m very proud of the subtitle for this post. If you’re new here or haven’t gleaned my vibe, that subtitle should tell you plenty about my questionable sense of humor. (Carry On my questionable sense of humor and all. Yes, that is absolutely a fandom reference; thank you for noticing.)

Anyway, yep, like some previous quote lists, I intended to have quotes from varying sources but ended up with only J. R. R. Tolkien quotes. So I hope you enjoy some quotes from arguably one of the most famous fantasy writers of all time!

Now I’ll have covered some of my favorite quotes from Oscar Wilde, Neil Gaiman, and J. R. R. Tolkien. Any suggestions for other authors down the pike?

Ready for an adventure? Let’s goooo!

1. “I want to be a healer, and love all things that grow and are not barren.”
― from The Lord of the Rings

This is the quote that inspired this list, actually!

2. “Where there's life, there's hope, and need of vittles.”
― from The Lord of the Rings

I think this may be one of the most Hobbit-sounding sentences I’ve ever heard.

3. “For we put the thought of all that we love into all that we make.”
― from The Fellowship of the Ring

Absolute cottagecore vibes here. Every bread loaf, every strawberry jam jar with that gingham fabric liner on top, every brown paper parcel (tied up with string?), all the things you make as a gift for a loved one. If you’re making it as a gift, you’re likely thinking of the person you’re making it for!

4. “It is no bad thing to celebrate a simple life.”

Cotttagecore is all about simplicity and the idea of returning or switching to a quiet, often more agriculturally minded life.

5. “I have found that it is the small everyday deeds of ordinary folks that keep the darkness at bay. Small acts of kindness and love.”
― Gandalf (J. R. R. Tolkien) from The Hobbit, Or There And Back Again

You don’t have to be capable of extraordinary feats to make the world a better place. (By all means, if you can do extraordinary feats, go for it!) But you don’t have to be a superhero or a wizard to do good. Do something small out of love.

Tell your family you love them. Tell your friends why you appreciate them. Compliment that person’s outfit. Hold the door for somebody. Make your friend’s favorite cookies for them. Make and send a care package for a loved one. Leave a nice comment on an Instagram post or a YouTube video you really appreciate. Donate to a food pantry or a little library or your favorite charity.

Small acts!

6. “I will not say: do not weep; for not all tears are an evil.”
― from The Return of the King

I included this one because the cottagecore aesthetic tends to allow for more freedom of emotion or sensitivity. You can weep for joy, or cry to let all the pain out. Neither are inherently bad. Sometimes you cry about good things, and sometimes about terrible.

7. “Still round the corner there may wait
A new road or a secret gate
And though I oft have passed them by
A day will come at last when I
Shall take the hidden paths that run
West of the Moon, East of the Sun.”

The words “corner,” “secret gate,” and “hidden paths” all conjure up things I’d use in a pastoral poem like I discuss a bit in Letter #20, which definitely make me think of cottagecore.

8. “I sit beside the fire and think
Of all that I have seen
Of meadow flowers and butterflies
In summers that have been

Of yellow leaves and gossamer
In autumns that there were
With morning mist and silver sun
And wind upon my hair

I sit beside the fire and think
Of how the world will be
When winter comes without a spring
That I shall ever see

For still there are so many things
That I have never seen
In every wood in every spring
There is a different green

I sit beside the fire and think
Of people long ago
And people that will see a world
That I shall never know

But all the while I sit and think
Of times there were before
I listen for returning feet
And voices at the door”

Okay, I know this is a long one, like so many of the songs Tolkien has sprinkled through The Lord of the Rings. Like the previous quote, this conjures up a clear picture of the speaker sitting beside a crackling fire, thinking of faraway places, seasons past, and the hopes of friendly faces returning home.

I imagine the speaker clad in gingham and a cozy shawl, knitting by the fire while the smell of baking bread wafts through a warm home. Very cottagecore-cozy.

9. “I feel thin, sort of stretched, like butter scraped over too much bread.”
― from The Fellowship of the Ring

This is the most Hobbit-y and creative ways of saying “I’m exhausted” I’ve ever heard, and it’s absolutely brilliant. And arguably one of the coolest sentences I’ve ever read.

10. “If more of us valued food and cheer and song above hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world.”
― from The Hobbit, or There and Back Again

I adore this quote so much I set out to paint a print of it a few years back, except I messed up the quote and didn’t realize until I had inked it all. (Measure twice, cut once and all that jazz.)

Still, I think it turned out alright enough for my home, maybe just not as a gift!

Photo credit: Me :)

12. “Faithless is he that says farewell when the road darkens.” 

— from The Fellowship of the Ring

I feel a bit called out here, as I’ve come to realize I am someone who chickens out when I’m nervous (which is pretty much always). It feels safer to just not go down a road that could be dangerous, so I just don’t go. I’m actively working to not run away from the darkened road.

(Metaphorically, that is. Like, if it were a Scooby Doo episode, then no, I would leave because I wouldn’t want to risk getting stranded in the creepy forest and walking up to the creepy mansion on the hill to find help.)

13. “It’s the job that’s never started as takes longest to finish.”

Yup, most definitely feeling called out.

If you don’t start something, it’ll just take that much longer to finish. So might as well start on all those creative projects!

14. “It is useless to meet revenge with revenge; it will heal nothing.”

Do no harm. ‘Nuff said.

15. “I will not walk backward in life.”

A great motto! Even if you aren’t always moving forward, at least be sitting still rather than moving backwards. The past doesn’t need you anymore; nor do you need it!

16. “Courage is found in unlikely places.”

This quote conjures up the image of an unassuming little mouse girl, having bundled herself in shawls and packed her bindle full of supplies, now standing at the crest of a hill. She looks out to the wild forest ahead, her back to the familiar family farm behind her. She draws up her courage to face the seemingly impossible threat beyond the forests and hills and valleys. Then she steps onto the road and disappears over the horizon.

17. “Deeds will not be less valiant because they are unpraised.”

A gentle reminder that people don’t need to see you doing good things for them to be good. Doing things just for people to see and think you’re good kinda defeats the purpose a bit.

So if you do something really cool and nobody notices, who cares? You know you did it. Does anyone else really need to?

18. “Do you wish me a good morning, or mean that it is a good morning whether I want it or not; or that you feel good this morning; or that it is a morning to be good on?”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Hobbit

One of those clever bits of word play that I love.

19. “A man that flies from his fear may find that he has only taken a short cut to meet it.”

This is a bonus quote that just feels very similar to #13, along with the Jean de La Fontaine quote of “A person often meets his destiny on the road he took to avoid it.” (A quote I only know because of Kung Fu Panda, an absolute A-tier of a movie.)

20. “In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Hobbit

And of course, last but not least, a very cozy quote about a certain someone.

Hungry for more? There’s apparently a Tolkien quotes Twitter. Okay, well, it seems there may be more than one, which I suppose is not surprising.

• I found Rowan Ellis’ discussion of cottagecore fascinating

• A lot of Prickly Alpaca’s videos, but especially this cottagecore outfit making one

• “The Bryology (Moss)” episode of Ologies

• A lot of Rachel Maksy videos, but especially this and this

  • Also, I got to meet her at the Boston Fan Expo last weekend, which was absolutely phenomenal! It was my first big convention experience, which I will undoubtedly gush about more in another letter and hope/plan to attend next year.

Thank you so much for reading! Have a wonderful rest of your day!

Happy reading!

Works Cited (MLA 9th Ed.)

de La Fontaine, Jean. “A Quote from Fables.” Goodreads, Goodreads, Inc. 4 Apr. 2022, https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/64758-a-person-often-meets-his-destiny-on-the-road-he.

News, Deseret. “27 Of the Best J.R.R. Tolkien Quotes.” Deseret News, Deseret News Publishing Company, 3 July 2013, https://www.deseret.com/2015/3/25/20479267/jrr-tolkien-quotes.

Tolkien, J. R. R. “J.R.R. Tolkien Quotes (Author of the Hobbit).” Goodreads, Goodreads, Inc. https://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/656983.J_R_R_Tolkien.

Quote of the Week:

“That was the most awkward Wednesday he ever remembered.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Hobbit

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