All That is Gold

There were some good lines from the chapter "The Council of Elrond" in J.R.R. Tolkien's The Fellowship of the Ring that I wanted to share.

All that is gold does not glitter,
Not all those who wander are lost;
The old that is strong does not wither,
Deep roots are not reached by the frost.
From the ashes a fire shall be woken,
A light from the shadows will spring;
Renewed shall be blade that was broken:
The crownless again shall be king.

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And it is not our part here to take thought only for a season, or for a few lives of Men, or for a passing age of the world. We should seek a final end of this menace, even if we do not hope to make one.

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It is wisdom to recognize necessity, when all other courses have been weighed, though as folly it may appear to those who cling to false hope.

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Yet it is oft the course of deeds that move the wheels of the world: small hands do them because they must, while the eyes of the great are elsewhere.

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The poem, which is quite familiar to any fan of the Lord of the Rings, is attributed to Bilbo's writing in direct regard to Aragorn, also known as Strider. Because of his character, the manner in which he is portrayed when the reader first meets him, and the expectant role he plays in the restoration of his people, the lines always remind me of Isaiah 53.2:

he had no form or majesty that we should look at him,
and no beauty that we should desire him.

The next two quotes are taken from Galdalf. Their quotes strike me as quite realistic, having been written by a man who had fought in one World War and lived through another, and I wonder if it reflects something of the mentality of that day.

The last line is from Elrond, and it has stuck in my head for another reason entirely... I am still thinking through some ideas, and hope to blog on those soon. But the line was moving, so I included it here.