M Chandler

“I wish it need not have happened in my time," said Frodo. "So do I," said Gandalf, "and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien

“How do I feel?' he cried. ' Well, I don't know how to say it. I feel, I feel' – he waved his arms in the air – 'I feel like spring after winter, and sun on the leaves; and like trumpets and harps and all the songs I have ever heard!' He stopped and he turned towards his master.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Return of the King

“Gandalf faced and suffered death; and came back or was sent back, as he says, with enhanced power. But though one may be in this reminded of the Gospels, it is not really the same thing at all. The Incarnation of God is an infinitely greater thing than anything I would dare to write. Here I am only concerned with Death as part of the nature, physical and spiritual, of Man, and with Hope without guarantees.

Letter 181
To Michael Straight [drafts]”
― Humphrey Carpenter, The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien

“Roast the chestnuts, heat the wine,
Pass the cups along the line,
Gather round, the log burns bright,
It's warm as toast inside tonight,”
― Jill Barklem, The Secret Staircase