"I should like to save the Shire, if I could - though there have been times when I thought the inhabitants too stupid and dull for words, and have felt that an earthquake or an invasion of dragons might be good for them. But I don't feel like that now. I feel that as long as the Shire lies behind, safe and comfortable, I shall find wandering more bearable: I shall know that somewhere there is a firm foothold, even if my feet cannot stand there again."

carrying the world around his neck

"I see no hope of it now. But I've got to do the best I can."

^{Quietly, in a soft voice.}

^{“The road goes ever on and on, down from the door where it began…now far ahead the road has gone, and I must follow, if I can…pursuing it with weary feet, until it joins some larger way..where many paths and errands meet, and whither then?”}

^{“I cannot say.”}