"Little by little, one travels far"
Coder Droid
find its source. I've read LR at least a dozen times. I think I would
have seen it once. Been through the Silmarillion twice: don't recall it
there (but that doesn't mean it wasn't there). HoMe? Letters? Niggle?
Anyone?
--cd
Alan
I've been reading books by and about Tolkien for many years now, and
I've never heard of this quote. You say you see it attributed to
Tolkien 'everywhere' - Could you tell us where you last saw it?
Alan
the softrat
<alanan...@rochford78.freeserve.co.uk> wrote:
>
>I've been reading books by and about Tolkien for many years now, and
>I've never heard of this quote. You say you see it attributed to
>Tolkien 'everywhere' - Could you tell us where you last saw it?
>
the softrat
"Honi soit qui mal y pense."
mailto:sof...@pobox.com
--
"It's true that clothes make the man. Naked people have had
little or no lasting impact in society." - - Mark Twain
Coder Droid
> I've never heard of this quote. You say you see it attributed to
> Tolkien 'everywhere' - Could you tell us where you last saw it?
Well, do a google search for "little by little one travels far" and
"tolkien". Here just a few of the 1,230 hits that I got:
http://www.quotationspage.com/quote/31293.html
http://www.lord-of-the-rings.org/books/gandalf.html
http://www.cobraa1.com/index2.php?pageid=Quotes
http://www.personal.psu.edu/users/m/b/mbc152/quotes/quotes.htm
It almost looks like one person misquoted it years ago, then the rest of
the planet just followed along.
Like you, I've read a LOT of stuff, and I've just never come across this
phrase. But the fact that it generates over a thousand hits kind of bugs
me. :)
It's now turned into a little personal quest: to find the true origin of
it.
--cd
Christopher Kreuzer
>> I've been reading books by and about Tolkien for many years now, and
>> I've never heard of this quote. You say you see it attributed to
>> Tolkien 'everywhere' - Could you tell us where you last saw it?
>
> Well, do a google search for "little by little one travels far" and
> "tolkien". Here just a few of the 1,230 hits that I got:
>
> http://www.quotationspage.com/quote/31293.html
> http://www.lord-of-the-rings.org/books/gandalf.html
That gandalf one is a false hit.
> http://www.cobraa1.com/index2.php?pageid=Quotes
> http://www.personal.psu.edu/users/m/b/mbc152/quotes/quotes.htm
But doing a search for "little by little" + "Tolkien" + "travels far"
still gets 1,250 hits. Failing an actual source, that does sound like a
misquote to me. 1,250 is a lower number of hits, compared to one that we
know is genuine, like:
"Faithless is he" + "tolkien" + "farewell when the road"
3,310 hits.
"The road goes ever on" + "tolkien"
12,800 hits
I wonder what the most common quote is? The above one can be
disqualified as the title of a song cycle as well. Also, "The Lord of
the Rings" can be disqualified for the same reason.
I get 4,640 hits for the Ring verse.
> It almost looks like one person misquoted it years ago, then the rest
> of the planet just followed along.
Probably.
> Like you, I've read a LOT of stuff, and I've just never come across
> this phrase. But the fact that it generates over a thousand hits kind
> of bugs me. :)
>
> It's now turned into a little personal quest: to find the true origin
> of it.
Let us know if you find out!
Maybe it was a mistranslation, or, as you say, from one of the minor
works. I would have tipped 'Leaf by Niggle' if anything, but couldn't
find anything there on a quick flip through.
The hits on Google Groups were for one poster in the Italian Tolkien
newsgroups. Maybe that poster knows where the quote is from, or maybe
they'll get a rude shock when someone points out that is seems to be a
phantom quote. Maybe it is a translation from the Italian?
I think the closest thing to that line in Tolkien is what Frodo reports
Bilbo as saying:
"You step into the Road, and if you don't keep your feet, there is no
knowing where you might be swept off to. Do you realize that this is the
very path that goes through Mirkwood, and that if you let it, it might
take you to the Lonely Mountain or even further and to worse places?"
Christopher
--
---
Reply clue: Saruman welcomes you to Spamgard
R. Dan Henry
<spam...@blueyonder.co.uk> wrote:
>Maybe it was a mistranslation, or, as you say, from one of the minor
>works. I would have tipped 'Leaf by Niggle' if anything, but couldn't
>find anything there on a quick flip through.
Maybe it isn't in a published work. The man did say things aloud and
write letters that haven't been published. Searching on the quote
without "Tolkien" turns up very little (and much of that is
attributing it to someone called "Tolkein"), so I don't think it is a
traditional saying or a known quotation from elsewhere. So, it looks
to be an unknown origin, attached to a known figure, which is common
enough, or an obscure genuine quotation.
R. Dan Henry
danh...@inreach.com
Coder Droid
> write letters that haven't been published.
That was my thought too. And although I've read 'Letters' through a
couple times, I obviously haven't memorized it. Maybe I should read the
biography again.
--cd
thomas.h...@gmail.com
Jerry Friedman
> Okay, so one time? In band camp? thomas.h...@gmail.com <thomas.h...@gmail.com> was all, like:
> --> Tue, 22 Jul 2014 00:43:13 -0700 (PDT) <21e83b49-f645-4059...@googlegroups.com>
>>> I see this quote attributed to Tolkien everywhere.
>
>> old Mexican saying. not JRR
>
Same here. It's distantly related to the observation that there's one
big Road, though.
The oldest recorded version is probably the one in the Daodejing (or Tao
Te Ching), sometimes translated "A journey of a thousand miles begins
with a single step."
--
Jerry Friedman
