This is a thread for members to post any beautiful and memorable lines in poetry, literature, film, or even music that has really struck a cord in them and has remained in their minds since they read or heard the line.

I shall share a few that are special to me.

'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 eager feet,

Until it joins some larger way

Where many paths and errands meet.

And whither then? I cannot say.

'-- From Tolkien, and something I hold close to heart when things get tough in life.

'It is too late to appologise, for I have already forgiven you

'- From Robin Hobb, specifically her Farseer Trilogy.It is one of my favourite sayings, and one I get to use reasonably often.

Paul Edgecomb:

On the day of my judgment, when I stand before God, and He asks me why did I kill one of his true miracles, what am I gonna say? That it was my job? My job?
 

John Coffey: You tell God the Father it was a kindness you done. I know you hurtin' and worryin', I can feel it on you, but you oughta quit on it now. Because I want it over and done. I do. I'm tired, boss. Tired of bein' on the road, lonely as a sparrow in the rain. Tired of not ever having me a buddy to be with, or tell me where we's coming from or going to, or why. Mostly I'm tired of people being ugly to each other. I'm tired of all the pain I feel and hear in the world everyday. There's too much of it. It's like pieces of glass in my head all the time. Can you understand?
 

Paul Edgecomb: Yes, John. I think I can.  

- The Green Mile

Ayn Rand - Anthem

I stand here on the summit of the mountain.
I lift my head and I spread my arms.
This, my body and spirit, this is the end
of the quest. I wished to know the meaning
of things. I am the meaning. I wished
to find a warrant for being. I need no
warrant for being, and no word of sanction
upon my being. I am the warrant and the sanction.

It is my eyes which see, and the sight of
my eyes grants beauty to the earth. It is
my ears which hear, and the hearing of my
ears gives its song to the world. It is my
mind which thinks, and the judgement of
my mind is the only searchlight that can
find the truth. It is my will which chooses,
and the choice of my will is the only edict
I must respect.

Many words have been granted me,
and some are wise, and some are false,
but only three are holy: "I will it!"

Whatever road I take, the guiding star
is within me; the guiding star and the
loadstone which point the way. They point
in but one direction. They point to me.

I know not if this earth on which I stand
is the core of the universe or if it is but
a speck of dust lost in eternity. I know not
and I care not. For I know what happiness
is possible to me on earth. And my happiness
needs no higher aim to vindicate it.
My happiness is not the means to any end.
It is the end. It is its own goal.
It is its own purpose.

Neither am I the means to any end others
may wish to accomplish. I am not a tool
for their use. I am not a servant of their
needs. I am not a bandage for their wounds.
I am not a sacrifice on their altars.

I am a man. This miracle of me is mine
to own and keep, and mine to guard, and
mine to use, and mine to kneel before!

I do not surrender my treasures, nor do
I share them. The fortune of my spirit is
not to be blown into coins of brass and
flung to the winds as alms for the poor
of the spirit. I guard my treasures:
my thought, my will, my freedom.
And the greatest of these is freedom.

I owe nothing to my brothers, nor do
I gather debts from them. I ask none to
live for me, nor do I live for any others.
I covet no man's soul, nor is my soul theirs
to covet.

I am neither foe nor friend to my brothers,
but such as each of them shall deserve
of me. And to earn my love, my brothers
must do more than to have been born.
I do not grant my love without reason, nor
to any chance passer-by who may wish to
claim it. I honor men with my love.
But honor is a thing to be earned.

I shall choose friends among men, but neither
slaves nor masters. And I shall choose
only such as please me, and them
I shall love and respect, but neither
command nor obey. And we shall join our
hands when we wish, or walk alone when
we so desire. For in the temple of his spirit,
each man is alone. Let each man keep his
temple untouched and undefiled. Then let
him join hands with others if he wishes,
but only beyond his holy threshold.

The end of The Garden of Proserpine by Swinburne: 

I'm also a fan of the farseer trilogy...

We are pack

No way! I have never found another person who has read them, or even heard of them. HIGH FIVE.

I like your style, Elona. Tolkien rules. The Hobbit is being directed by Peter Jackson. I hope it's good.

The Lord of the Rings
Tom Bombadil, Chapter 'In the House of Tom Bombadil'.

Eldest, that's what I am. Mark my words, my friends: Tom was here before the river and the trees; Tom remembers the first raindrop and the first acorn. He made paths before the Big People, and saw the Little People arriving. He was here before the Kings and the graves and the Barrow-wights. When the Elves passed westward, Tom was here already, before the seas were bent. He knew the dark under the stars when it was fearless - before the Dark Lord came from Outside.

wow

Do Not Go Gentle into that Good Night

by Dylan Thomas

Emily Dickinson:

If you were coming in the fall, 
I'd brush the summer by 
With half a smile and half a spurn, 
As housewives do a fly.

If I could see you in a year, 
I'd wind the months in balls, 
And put them each in separate drawers, 
Until their time befalls.

If only centuries delayed, 
I'd count them on my hand, 
Subtracting till my fingers dropped 
Into Van Diemens land.

If certain, when this life was out, 
That yours and mine should be, 
I'd toss it yonder like a rind, 
And taste eternity.

But now, all ignorant of the length
Of time's uncertain wing, 
It goads me, like the goblin bee, 
That will not state its sting. 

"Here's to alcohol: the cause of, and solution to, all of life's problems."

Homer Simpson.

Show me a man or a woman alone and I'll show you a saint. Give me two and they'll fall in love. Give me three and they'll invent the charming thing we call 'society'. Give me four and they'll build a pyramid. Give me five and they'll make one an outcast. Give me six and they'll reinvent prejudice. Give me seven and in seven years they'll reinvent warfare.

Stephen King, The stand.

To me, the truth is what actually happened. Yet it is impossible to know anything approaching the whole truth about past events. Even the people living them could not possibly understand. That truth is always out of reach.

Justice could be cruel, and crueler yet necessity, but mercy was the cruelest thing of all.

Heroes and victims are the product of the mood they were in when opportunity came or when circumstances were at their worst.

You were born with compassion, only that also means that when people are cruel to you it cuts you deep. You won't understand that you have to walk right up to the ones who are being hateful and laugh in their faces and earn their respect. Instead you'll try to figure out what you did to make them mad at you.

Even the most "Rational" people — the ones who claimed not to have a religion — were just as chauvinistic about their irreligion, sneering at and ostracizing the believers just the way the believers treated nonmembers of their own groups. It's a human universal.

When we intended to enjoy being cruel, we must transform our victim into either a beast or a god.

Honesty always sounds like impudence to the vain and stupid.

Why is doubt the one thing we're never skeptical of? We question other peoples' beliefs, and the more sure they are the more we doubt them. But it never occurs to us to doubt our own doubt. Question our own questions. We think our questions are answers.

I've known some bad people and some good people in my life, and it's the bad ones who live in fear, all the time. Cause they know their own hearts... And they think everyone else is just waiting to pull the same moves on them that they've got planned to pull on somebody else.

I will not be tamed, only persuaded. I will not be coerced or led blindly or tricked or bullied - I am willing only to be convinced. If you don't trust your own basic goodness enough to tell me what you're trying to do... Then you're confessing your own moral weakness and I'll never serve you.

Orson Scott Card

That's some great stuff Russell. Especialy that last post.

"The road to hell is paved with good intentions." -- Anonymous

"You have gold nuggets, and then you have rocks painted yellow." -- theweaponking

"The king is a fighting piece.  Use it!"  -- Wilhelm Steinitz

"Chess is, above all, a fight."  -- Emanuel lasker

"Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow.  For what is your life?  It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away."  -- King James Bible, James 4:14

"The more things change, the more they stay the same."  "You take down one monster, and they find somebody even worse to replace him."  -- General Shepard (from Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2)

"Uh uh, I ain't goin' in there.  A gun lives there!"  --  Jeff Foxworthy