J. R. R. Tolkien Quotes

Force is not a remedy.

Nobody likes to lose power or reach a point of humility.

I believe the root of all evil is abuse of power.

Power intoxicates men. It is never voluntarily surrendered. It must be taken from them.

[William Randolph] Hearst's power for evil is immeasurable.

Force, no matter how concealed, begets resistance.

Ambition fortifies the will of man to become ruler over other men: it operates with deception, cajolery, and violence, it is the action of impurity upon impurity.

We will oppose and resist tyranny as we will defeat evil.

If you want me again look for me under your boot soles.

All violence, all that is dreary and repels, is not power, but the absence of power.

Indeed in nothing is the power of the Dark Lord more clearly shown than in the estrangement that divides all those who still oppose him.

Evil must be confronted in its womb, and, if it can't be done otherwise, then it has to be dealt with by the use of force.

Love of power, operating through greed and through personal ambition, was the cause of all these evils.

Any forces that would impose their will on other nations will certainly face defeat.

Armed conflict between nations is a nightmare to me; but if I were convinced that any nation had made up its mind to dominate the world by fear of its force, I should feel that it must be resisted.

To fight the Empire is to be infected by its derangement.... Whoever defeats the Empire becomes the Empire; it proliferates like a virus.

Power won by crime no one ever yet turned to a good purpose.

Beware the People weeping When they bare the iron hand.

Terrorism is the price of empire. If you do not wish to pay the price, you must give up the empire.

Empire breeds terrorism.

Violence can always destroy power; out of the barrel of a gun grows the most effective command, resulting in the most instant and perfect obedience. What never can grow out of it is power.

Treason and murder ever kept together, As two yoke-devils sworn to either's purpose, Working so grossly in a natural cause That admiration did not whoop at them; But thou, 'gainst all proportion, didst bring in Wonder to wait on treason and on murder; And whatsoever cunning fiend it was That wrought upon thee so preposterously Hath got the voice in hell for excellence.

The single clenched fist lifted and ready, Or the open asking hand held out and waiting. Choose: For we meet by one or the other.

We attack not only to hurt someone, to defeat him, but perhaps also simply to become conscious of our own strength.

Every high degree of power always involves a corresponding degree of freedom from good and evil.