There are some things that it is better to begin than to refuse, even though the end may be dark.
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Tolkien on War
War must be, while we defend our lives against a destroyer who would devour all; but I do not love the bright sword for its sharpness, nor the arrow for its swiftness, nor the warrior for his glory. I love only that which they defend.
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Tolkien on Time
Time does not tarry ever, but change and growth is not in all things and places alike. For the Elves the world moves, and it moves both very swift and very slow. Swift, because they themselves change little, and all else fleets by: it is a grief to them. Slow, because they do not count the running years, not for themselves. The passing seasons are but ripples ever repeated in the long long stream. Yet beneath the Sun all things must wear to an end at last.
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Tolkien on Advice
Elves seldom give unguarded advice, for advice is a dangerous gift, even from the wise to the wise, and all courses may run ill.
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Hart on Physics and Causality
Physics isn't a science of predetermination, after all, but just a set of limit-conditions. It might tell us that mental causes can't violate certain minimal principles of causal possibility — a man can't choose to do something forbidden by gravity, but he can choose to do a great many things within the boundaries of the law of gravity.