Dwarves Quotes

“Far over the misty mountains cold
To dungeons deep and caverns old
We must away ere break of day
To seek the pale enchanted gold.

The dwarves of yore made mighty spells,
While hammers fell like ringing bells
In places deep, where dark things sleep,
In hollow halls beneath the fells.

For ancient king and elvish lord
There many a gleaming golden hoard
They shaped and wrought, and light they caught
To hide in gems on hilt of sword.

On silver necklaces they strung
The flowering stars, on crowns they hung
The dragon-fire, in twisted wire
They meshed the light of moon and sun.

Far over the misty mountains cold
To dungeons deep and caverns old
We must away, ere break of day,
To claim our long-forgotten gold.

Goblets they carved there for themselves
And harps of gold; where no man delves
There lay they long, and many a song
Was sung unheard by men or elves.

The pines were roaring on the height,
The wind was moaning in the night.
The fire was red, it flaming spread;
The trees like torches blazed with light.

The bells were ringing in the dale
And men looked up with faces pale;
The dragon's ire more fierce than fire
Laid low their towers and houses frail.

The mountain smoked beneath the moon;
The dwarves, they heard the tramp of doom.
They fled their hall to dying fall
Beneath his feet, beneath the moon.

Far over the misty mountains grim
To dungeons deep and caverns dim
We must away, ere break of day,
To win our harps and gold from him!”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Hobbit, or There and Back Again

“Under the Mountain dark and tall
The King has come unto his hall!
His foe is dead,
the Worm of Dread,
And ever so his foes shall fall.

The sword is sharp, the spear is long,
The arrow swift, the Gate is strong;
The heart is bold that looks on gold;
The dwarves no more shall suffer wrong.

The dwarves of yore made mighty spells,
While hammers fells like ringing bells
In places deep, where dark things sleep,
In hollow halls beneath the fells.

-from The Hobbit (Dwarves Battle Song)”
― J.R.R. Tolkien

“Far, far below the deepest delvings of the dwarves, the world is gnawed by nameless things.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien

“All dwarfs have beards and wear up to twelve layers of clothing. Gender is more or less optional.”
― Terry Pratchett, Guards! Guards!

“If anyone had asked Royce Melborn what he hated most at that moment, he would’ve said dogs. Dogs and dwarves topped his list, both equally despised for having so much in common—each was short, vicious, and inexcusably hairy.”
― Michael J. Sullivan, The Death of Dulgath

“I dare say you could,' snorted Gimli. ' You are a Wood-elf, anyway, though Elves of any kind are strange folk. Yet you comfort me. Where you go, I will go. But keep your bow ready to hand, and I will keep my axe loose in my belt. Not for use on trees.' he added hastily, looking up at the tree under which they stood. ' I do not wish to meet that old man at unawares without an argument ready to hand, that is all. Let us go!”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings

“There is a distinct evolutionary advantage to being fuzzy, as much of the mammal kingdom had discovered, particularly when you wanted a human to scratch your back. The dwarven evolutionary tree had embraced this concept wholeheartedly only to discover that once you started talking and expressing opinions a human's desire to scratch your back became directly inverse to how fuzzy it was.”
― Jeffery Russell, The Dungeoneers

“All of ye, weapons down!” he yelled. Even the most unruly of dwarves would have at least acknowledged the order, if not followed it. He did not wish to sound racist, but non-dwarves were often very uncivilized.”
― patrick weekes, The Prophecy Con

“Then what is Durin's Day?" asked Elrond.
"The first day of the dwarves' New Year," said Thorin, "is as all should know the first day of the last moon of Autumn on the threshold of Winter. We still call it Durin's Day when the last moon of Autumn and the sun are in the sky together. But this will not help us much, I fear, for it passes our skill in these days to guess when such a time will come again.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Hobbit, or There and Back Again

“Dwarves are sequential hermaphroditic parthenogens," Ruby said, anticipating his question.

"What?"

"They can change back and forth from male to female and are capable of fertilizing themselves to make more dwarves. They exhibit what we regard as male characteristics, typically, but some favor a more feminine approach."

Durham sat with his mouth hanging open. Ruby poked him in the tongue with her quill feather making him gag and sputter.

"So, Ginny is, what, short for Regina? Virginia?"

"I rather think it's long to 'Gin'," Ruby answered. "She's head of hazard team and Thud's second."

"So, the changing sex thing. How does that work? Does it take a while or is it the sort of thing that might happen in the middle of a conversation?"

"Hard to say," Ruby said. "Does she need to clear her throat or did she just become a male? Is he just pausing for thought or did he just impregnate himself mid-sentence?" She shrugged. "Dwarf physiology isn't really my field."

"Is there an easy way to tell?"

"Which sex a dwarf is at the moment? Not that I'm aware of but I haven't managed to think of a situation where it would matter, either, so I've not dwelt on it much.”
― Jeffery Russell, The Dungeoneers

“The anvil is hard so that it can help shape the blade. If life were easy, we would all be soft and misshapen shards of metal, tossed into a bin.”
― J.M. Bush

“It's a mad idea. Mad. The dwarves will crush her bones. The elves will strip her flesh. And the barbarians will make her into soup.”
― G.A. Aiken, The Blacksmith Queen

“Ale is the most civilized thing to a Dwarf, but to a Human it’s a reversal; a step back into a more primitive state.”

(HammerThorn)”
― C.A. Tedeschi, The Knights of the Brotherhood

“We have long memories and do not rush to hasty decision. Words will decide nothing, only deeds.”
― Christopher Paolini

“Since they were to come in the days of the power of Melkor. Aule made the Dwarves strong to endure. Therefore they are stone-hard, stubborn, fast in friendship and in enmity, and they suffer toil and hunger and hurt of body more hardily than all other speaking peoples; and they live long, far beyond the span of Men, yet not for ever.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Silmarillion

“The laughter outside the Ivy Mansion reached thunderous proportions when King Bruenor Battlehammer, weighing more than he had admitted to, went airborne over the bank Pikel had fashioned along the ice slide. The snow was deep and so the landing was soft enough, and Bruenor came up covered in snow, his beard and hair more white than orange.”
― R.A. Salvatore, Lolth's Warrior

“The anvil is hard so that it can help shape the blade. If life were easy, we would all be soft and misshapen shards of metal, tossed into a bin.”
― JM Bush

“No dwarf could be unmoved by such loveliness. None of Durin’s race would mine those caves for stones or ore, not if diamonds and gold could be got there. Do you cut down groves of blossoming trees in the springtime for firewood? We could tend these glades of flowering tones, not quarry them. With cautious skill, tap by tap – a small chip of rock and no more, perhaps, in a whole anxious day – so we could work, and as the years went by, we should open up new ways, and display for chambers that are still dark, glimpsed only as a void beyond fissures in the
rock.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings

“Even as she finished, Athrogate erupted in side-splitting laughter, and Amber began to giggle so ridiculously that she could hardly finish her song of two couples, a dwarf and his firbolg bride, and his sister and her firbolg husband, brother of her sister-in-law.
"So the dwarf's got a sister who's smilin' so wide," she chanted, catching her wits when she saw that the other six were now looking her way. "And his own wife's not knowin' when her husband's inside.”
― R.A. Salvatore, Vengeance of the Iron Dwarf

“Now when Aule labored in the making of the Dwarves he kept his work hidden from the other Valar, but at last he opened his mind to Yavanna and said to him: 'Eru is merciful. Now I see that thy heart rejoiceth, as indeed it may; for thou hast received not only forgiveness but bounty. Yet because thou hiddest this thought from me until its achievement, they children will have little love for the things of my love. They will love first the things made by their own hands, as doth their father. They will delve in the earth, and the things that grow and live upon the earth they will not heed. Many a tree shall fell the bite of their iron without pity.'
But Aule answered. 'That shall also be true for the Children of Iluvatar; for they will eat and they will build. And though the things of they realm have worth in themselves, and would have worth if no Children were to come, yet Eru will give them dominion, and they shall use all that they find in Arda: though not, by the purpose of Eru, without respect or without gratitude.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Silmarillion

“only the trees of Aule will be tall enough. In the mountains the Eagles shall house, and hear the voices of those who call upon us. But in the forest shall walk the Shepard of the Trees.'
Then Manwe and Yavanna parted for that time, and Yavanna returned to Aule, and he was in him smithy, pouring molten metal into a mould. 'Eru is bountiful,' she said. 'Now let thy children beware! For there shall walk a power in the forests whose wrath they will arouse at their peril.'
'Nonetheless they will have need of wood,' said Aule, and he went on with his smith-work.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Silmarillion

“Over the misty mountains cold
To dungeons deep and caverns old
We must away ere break of day
To seek the pale enchanted gold.

The dwarves of yore made mighty spells,
While hammers fell like ringing bells
In places deep, where dark things sleep,
In hallows halls beneath the fells.

For ancient kind and elvish lord
There many a gleaming golden hoard
They shaped and wrought, and light they caught
To hide in gems on hilt of sword.

On silver necklaces they strung
The flowering stars, on crowns they hung
The dragon-fire, in twisted wire
They meshed the light of moon and sun.

Far over the misty mountains cold
To dungeons deep and caverns old
We must away, ere break of day,
To claim our long-forgotten gold.

Goblets they carved there for themselves
And harps of gold; where no man delves
There lay they long, and many a song
Was sung unheard by men or elves.

The pines were roaring on the height,
The winds were moaning in the night.
The fire was red, it flaming spread;
The trees like torches blazed with light.

The bells were ringing in the dale
And men looked up with faces pale;
The dragon's ire more fierce than fire
Laid low their towers and houses frail.

The mountain smoked beneath the moon;
The dwarves, they heard the tramp of doom.
They fled their hall to dying fall
Beneath his feet, beneath the moon.

For over the misty mountains grim
To dungeons deep and caverns dim
We must away, ere break of day ,
To win our harps and gold from him!”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Hobbit, or There and Back Again

“Unleash the novelist within and let your imagination soar on the wings of fantasy.”
― Stan Rimbas, Elfheim - Fefolk Good & Evil: Beyond the Mist

“We’re never to see peace—none of us—until we come to recognize that a child of a culture that is not our own is as precious as one who is. And I don’t know if that will ever be possible. No peace, not for humans or dwarves or halflings or drow or elves.”
― R.A. Salvatore, Starlight Enclave

“Ye ain’t helpin’, wizard.” “Ain’t tryin’ to, dwarf,” Gromph shot back. “We’ve been at this for hours, and you storm in here as if we’re all to bow down before you. Treat me like a subject, King Bruenor, and you’ll understand the life of a newt.” He pointed his finger upward, indicating the room, reminding of the spell. “And that is no lie.”
― R.A. Salvatore, Glacier's Edge

“As he finished, he cleverly revealed a particular ruby pendant about his neck, one Bruenor knew from long ago, and one Regis had only recently recovered as a gift from Jarlaxle in exchange for some cheating in a gambling game and a wild adventure on the high seas.”
― R.A. Salvatore, Glacier's Edge

“Tak wrote the World and the Laws, and then he left us. He does not require that we think of Him, only that we think.”
― Terry Pratchett, Thud!

“If all the grievances that stand between Elves and Dwarves are to be brought up here, we may as well abandon this Council.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring

“Every race has its own qualities and affinities! Why, take us dwarves, for example. We are the finest smiths in all the realms! Except the elves. Their work is finer. But of course, no one can match us dwarves for strength! Except the elves: they are far stronger than we. And then there are wizards, who are the wisest of all peoples. Wisest of all, that is, save the elves. Ah, and then we have men! The most fearless and ingenious and creative of all speaking species! Second only to elves, who are more fearless, and more ingenious, and more creative. But then we have goblins like yourself, Plumleaf, who have sharp eyes and silent feet, and can see in darkness better than all other races. All other races but elves, who can see far better in the dark than any other-”
― Eric Jason Casey, Plumleaf the Goblin: A Short Story

“Strange are the ways of Men, Legolas! Here they have one of the marvels of the Northern World, and what do they say of it? Caves, they say! Caves! Holes to fly to in time of war, to store fodder in! My good Legolas, do you know that the caverns of Helm’s Deep are vast and beautiful? There would be an endless pilgrimage of Dwarves, merely to gaze at them, if such things were known to be. Aye indeed, they would pay pure gold for a brief glance!’

‘And I would give gold to be excused,’ said Legolas; ‘and double to be let out, if I strayed in!’

‘You have not seen, so I forgive your jest,’ said Gimli. ‘But you speak like a fool. Do you think those halls are fair, where your King dwells under the hill in Mirkwood, and Dwarves helped in their making long ago? They are but hovels compared with the caverns I have seen here: immeasurable halls, filled with an everlasting music of water that tinkles into pools, as fair as Kheled-zâram in the starlight.

‘And, Legolas, when the torches are kindled and men walk on the sandy floors under the echoing domes, ah! then, Legolas, gems and crystals and veins of precious ore glint in the polished walls; and the light glows through folded marbles, shell-like, translucent as the living hands of Queen Galadriel. There are columns of white and saffron and dawn-rose, Legolas, fluted and twisted into dreamlike forms; they spring up from many-coloured floors to meet the glistening pendants of the roof: wings, ropes, curtains fine as frozen clouds; spears, banners, pinnacles of suspended palaces! Still lakes mirror them: a glimmering world looks up from dark pools covered with clear glass; cities. such as the mind of Durin could scarce have imagined in

his sleep, stretch on through avenues and pillared courts, on into the dark recesses where no light can come. And plink! a silver drop falls, and the round wrinkles in the glass make all the towers bend and waver like weeds and corals in a grotto of the sea. Then evening comes: they fade and twinkle out; the torches pass on into another chamber and another dream. There is chamber after chamber, Legolas; hall opening out of hall, dome after dome, stair beyond stair; and still the winding paths lead on into the mountains’ heart. Caves! The Caverns of Helm’s Deep! Happy was the chance that drove me there! It makes me weep to leave them.’

‘Then I will wish you this fortune for your comfort, Gimli,’ said the Elf, ‘that you may come safe from war and return to see them again. But do not tell all your kindred! There seems little left for them to do, from your account. Maybe the men of this land are wise to say little: one family of busy dwarves with hammer and chisel might mar more than they made.’

‘No, you do not understand,’ said Gimli. ‘No dwarf could be unmoved by such loveliness. None of Durin’s race would mine those caves for stones or ore, not if diamonds and gold could be got there. Do you cut down groves of blossoming trees in the spring-time for firewood? We would tend these glades of flowering stone, not quarry them. With cautious skill, tap by tap – a small chip of rock and no more, perhaps, in a whole anxious day – so we could work, and as the years went by, we should open up new ways, and display far chambers that are still dark, glimpsed only as a void beyond fissures in the rock. And lights, Legolas! We should make lights, such lamps as once shone in Khazaddûm; and when we wished we would drive away the night that has lain there since the hills were made; and when we desired rest, we would let the night return.”
― Tolkien J R R