LotR -- Book 1 - Chapter 02 - The Shadow of the Past

[Guinevere]

And that's when I choked, which you heard, seemingly.

I agree very much with you, Mark 12-30! Tolkien manages to make Sam very endearing with just these few words - but they speak volumes! and that Sam bursts in tears after shouting "hooray!" mirrors his inner turmoil and is very plausible.

Estelyn's excellent post #27 "Words to live by":
It is these insights that you pointed out that impressed me too. Gandalf's words of timeless wisdom stay forever in my head (and heart!). I was so glad that several of these quotes made it into the movie! (Was that only thanks to Ian mcKellen, I wonder?)

These wisdoms have proverbial quality and an innate worth that makes them timeless and applicable to my life.

Exactly! And that's why it seemed so strange to me that Tolkien stated in the foreword that "there is no inner meaning or message"!

I found it very interesting what Bethberry wrote in post #31 about the proverbial style in which these wisdoms are presented. (I've been collecting the "proverbs" in the books, as Esty knows, and often I couldn't tell which were real ancient sayings and which were "made up" by Tolkien. Needless to say that they don't sound so impressive and terse anymore when translated into another language.) (Hey, you added a new word to my vocabulary: pithy! very fitting indeed!))