Gandalf – Character Quotes

— Everything all right? Gandalf, where are you going?
— To seek the company of the only one around here who's got any sense.
— And who's that?
— Myself, Mr. Baggins.

— Good morning.
— What do you mean? Do you wish me a good morning...or do you mean that it is a good morning whether I want it or not? Or perhaps you mean to say that you feel good on this particular morning? Or are you simply stating that this is a morning to be good on? Hm? All of them at once, I suppose.

— Where did you go to, if I may ask?
— To look ahead.
— What brought you back?
— Looking behind.

True courage is about knowing not when to take a life but when to spare one.

I will not say: «Do not weep!»... for not all tears are an evil.

— I wish the ring had never come to me. I wish none of this had happened!
— So do all that come to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us.

The world is not in your books and maps. It's out there.

If we are to be successful, this will need to be handled with tact. And respect. And no small degree of charm. Which is why you will leave the talking to me.

— Mithrandir? Why the Halfling?
— I do not know. Saruman believes that it is only great power that can hold evil in check. But that is not what I have found. I have found it is the small things everyday deeds of ordinary folk that keeps the darkness at bay. Simple acts of kindness and love. Why Bilbo Baggins? Perhaps it is because I'm afraid and he gives me courage.

— You'll have a tale or two to tell of your own when you come back.
— Can you promise that I will come back?
— No. And if you do... you will not be the same.

A wizard is never late, Frodo Baggins. Nor is he early. He arrives precisely when he means to.

Well, all good stories deserve embellishment.