The Two Towers Quotes

The 8 most famous lines from J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Two Towers (1954), each with its speaker and the scene it belongs to. These are the quotes readers underline, copy into essays and put on walls - gathered in one place, explained in a line.

• “How shall a man judge what to do in such times? ... Good and ill have not changed since yesteryear; nor are they one thing among Men and another among Elves.”

  - Aragorn. p. 33 - Aragorn's answer to Éomer; the book's moral compass stated in one exchange at the edge of Rohan.

• “He has a mind of metal and wheels; and he does not care for growing things, except as far as they serve him for the moment.”

  - Treebeard. pp. 75-76 - the Ents' indictment of Saruman; the century's most-quoted sentence of ecological anger.

• “I should like to finish it properly... it may be worth a song.”

  - Treebeard. p. 92 - 'the last march of the Ents' - the deliberate, unhurried decision to go to war.

• “I will not end here, taken like an old badger in a trap... we will make such an end as will be worth a song.”

  - Théoden. p. 156 - the king remembering his courage in the trenches before Helm's Deep.

• “Deserves death! I daresay he does. Many that live deserve death. And some that die deserve life. Can you give it to them? Then do not be too eager to deal out death in judgement... Even the very wise cannot see all ends.”

  - Frodo (quoting Gandalf). p. 246 - Frodo's answer to Faramir, borrowing Gandalf's words about Gollum; the novel's single most famous passage.

• “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.”

  - Faramir. p. 314 - the reason readers have loved Faramir for seventy years; Tolkien's own view of war, given to his captain.

• “the brave things in the old tales and songs... they had lots of chances, like us, of turning back, only they didn't.”

  - Sam Gamgee. p. 362 - Sam's tales speech on the stairs of Cirith Ungol; the books' moral in a hobbit's mouth.

• “I have something to do before the end. I must see it through, sir.”

  - Sam Gamgee. p. 385 - Sam in Shelob's lair, after taking the Ring; the whole series compressed into one sentence of loyalty.

Why these lines survive

J.R.R. Tolkien’s sentences earn their fame by compression: each line carries the whole book’s argument in a form you can carry in your pocket. Read in order, the 8 quotes above also sketch the novel’s shape - the world it opens, the pressure it applies, the note it ends on. If you meet them before the book, nothing is spoiled beyond mood; if you meet them after, each one lands like a place you have been.

Quote collectors: pair this page with the The Two Towers quiz to see which lines actually stuck, the book club questions when you want to argue about them, or how long the reread takes - about 10 hours and 55 minutes at an average pace. If the lines did their job and you want more of the same nerve, the books like The Two Towers list is next.

Want the whole shelf’s lines? Our J.R.R. Tolkien books in order guide lists every book.

How to use a quotes page

Three honest uses. Before reading: skim the first two quotes to taste the prose - if the voice does not pull you, the book will not either. During: mark which quote you actually reach in the text, because the distance between famous line and lived scene is where a book keeps its secrets. After: pick the one quote you would defend at dinner and check it against the discussion questions - a quote you can argue about is a quote you understood. What a quotes page is not for is replacing the book; five lines of J.R.R. Tolkien are an invitation, not a summary.

More quote collections

The Odyssey quotes, Moby-Dick quotes, Don Quixote quotes, Alice in Wonderland quotes - or browse quotes from all 133 classics. Then see which of them stuck on the original book quiz.

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