I do not foretell, for all foretelling is now vain: on the one hand lies darkness, and on the other only hope. But if hope should not fail, then I say to you, Gimli son of Gloin that your hands shall flow with gold, and ye over you gold shall have no dominion.


But even now there is hope left. I will not give you counsel, saying do this, or do that. For not in doing or contriving, nor in choosing between this course and another, can I avail; but only in knowing what was and is, and in part also what shall be. But this I will say to you: your Quest stands upon the edge of a knife. Stray but a little and it will fail, to the ruin of all. Yet hope remains while all the Company is true.


A few of my (many) favorite lines from The Fellowship of the Ring. The second quote was read aloud by one of my friends as several of us sat around and listened. I wrote it down into a nearby moleskine, Yet hope remains while all the Company is true. What a blessing to have true friends, and be part of 'true company,' indeed, it does protect hope.