Category: Features

He was said to have been the wisest of the Maia, and was sent out of the Uttermost West with five others manifesting themselves as the Istari, to aid Men in the fight against Sauron. Olórin took many names while he roamed in Middle Earth.

Olórin, Mithrandir, Incanús, Tharkün, Gandalf - by whatever name he was known, his utterances were often profound. I have compiled a list of some of my favourites, complete with references to the chapters, places or times when they were made.

• "Many that live deserve death. And some that die deserve life. Can you give it to them? Do not be so eager to deal out death in judgement, for even the very wise cannot see all ends."
• The Shadow of the Past

• "All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us."
• The Shadow of the Past

• "Yet it is not our part to master all the tides of the world, but to do what is in us for the succour of those years wherein we are set, uprooting the evil in the fields that we know, so that those who live after may have clean earth to till."
• The Last Debate

• "Go in peace! I will not say, do not weep, for not all tears are an evil."
• The Grey Havens

• "I was talking aloud to myself. A habit of the old: they choose the wisest person present to speak to; the long explanations needed by the young are wearying."
• The White Rider

• "The guest who has escaped from the roof, will think twice before he comes back in by the door."
• The Voice of Saruman

• "The treacherous are ever distrustful"
• The Voice of Saruman

• "Let us remember that a traitor may betray himself and do good that he does not intend."
• The Siege of Gondor

• You would not wonder if you used this herb yourself. You might find that smoke blown out cleared your mind of shadows within. Anyway, it gives patience, to listen to error without anger.
• Meeting of the White Council, TA 2851

• To crooked eyes the truth may wear a wry face
• The King of the Golden Hall