With The Lord of the Rings movie trilogy essentially being a montage of iconic moments coming on one after another, you can easily find dozens of memorable quotes throughout the 12-hour cinematic tour de force.
The Lord of the Rings and its characters aren’t just a piece of media. Over the course of its long history, and especially after the release of the movies, this story has turned into a timeless pop culture phenomenon, continuously spawning debate and finding a little unoccupied corner in the population’s collective psyche, compelling them to keep going back to a tale that really mattered, and even subliminally quoting its characters every now and again.
I mean, it hardly needs to be said that every one of us would benefit from a bit of Gandalf wisdom in our lives. Some might even appreciate Aragorn’s words of courage when the night is at its darkest. And let’s not forget about everyone’s favorite gardener and the true MVP of the entire story, Samwise Gamgee.
Whoever is your pick in that regard, here are the top 10 Lord of the Rings quotes that randomly pop up in our minds throughout the day.
10. “Even the smallest person can change the course of the future.” — Galadriel
Despite all of his cunning, Sauron never saw it coming. He never even bothered to look at the Hobbits twice, because who would even think that such a small and unassuming people would be his downfall? But that’s precisely what happened in the story, and why Galadriel’s words of encouragement to Frodo in Lothlorien have a ring of self-fulfilling, prophetic truth to them.
9. “YOU SHALL NOT PASS!” — Gandalf
Ah, the favorite pun of teachers who also happen to be huge Lord of the Rings fans for the past two decades. This line uttered by Gandalf when he’s fighting the Balrog of Morgoth in The Fellowship of the Ring might not be thematically profound, but it’s still one of the most iconic pieces of dialogue from the trilogy.
8. “Death is just another path, one that we all must take.” — Gandalf
Speaking of Gandalf and his infinite wisdom, there’s a scene in The Return of the King that perfectly captures the spirit of Middle-earth and what its creator J.R.R. Tolkien had intended the story to be about. The line itself is actually taken from the closing paragraphs of the books, but here, Gandalf says them to Pippin as they’re about to be overrun by the Orcs in Minas Tirith.
“Death is just another path, one that we all must take,” the wizard says. “The grey rain-curtain of this world rolls back, and all turns to silver glass. And then you see it. White shores and beyond. A far green country, under a swift sunrise.”
7. “What about side by side with a friend?” — Legolas
From people who really disliked each other to best friends, Legolas and Gimli have one of the best bromances in all of cinema, and it culminates in that moment behind the Black Gates where Gimli muses over their possible demise, and Legolas reassures him by saying that dying next to a friend is as good a death as anyone could wish for.
6. “I would rather share one lifetime with you than face all the ages of this world alone.” — Arwen
The love story between Arwen and Aragorn still remains the beating heart of The Lord of the Rings trilogy, even if the entire thing was narrated using techniques like flashbacks. We have in Arwen and Aragorn what was once the throbbing essence of every minstrel’s tale regarding the greatest love story ever told; that of an immortal elf called Luthien Tinuviel and a man of the Edain named Beren.
5. “I am no man.” — Eowyn
The last thing Eowyn told the Witch King before plunging her sword deep into the void of nothingness that represented his face, revealing that the old prophecy about “no man” being able to kill Sauron’s evil lieutenant was just a sly play on words.
4. “I would’ve followed you, my brother. My captain. My king.” — Boromir
Even years later, and having seen it more than a hundred times, the last words Boromir speaks to Aragorn before passing away bring us to tears. In the end, Boromir proved himself a loyal servant of Gondor, and perhaps more importantly than that, a good man. Actually, no, not a good man. One of the best.
3. “There is some good in this world, Mr. Frodo, and it’s worth fighting for.” — Samwise Gamgee
The Lord of the Rings is about hope, the darkest moment of twilight before the dawn, the deepest tragedy before deliverance. And these fundamental themes, subtle though they may be in the books, have been immortalized thanks to Samwise Gamgee’s speech at the end of The Two Towers. If anyone asks you what Middle-earth is all about, just point them to this quote and this scene.
2. “I can’t carry it for you, but I can carry you!” — Samwise Gamgee
I know that I already said it at the beginning, but do you realize just what important a role Samwise plays throughout this story? Without Sam, there would be no victory for the Free Peoples of Middle-earth. And without Sam, Frodo would’ve perished long before making it to Mount Doom. This is another one of those moments, at the very end of The Return of the King, that leaves us inconsolably teary-eyed.
1. “All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us.” — Gandalf
In times of great personal hardship, I’ve often found myself reflecting on this memorable speech given by Gandalf in the depths of Khazad-Dum. Frodo is already starting to feel the heavy burden of his quest, of carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders, and Gandalf offers him solace by saying that everyone, in their own right, has to go through such trials in life. “But that is not for us to decide,” he continues, telling him that all he needs to do is take it one step at a time.