The Hobbit

(1937) by J. R. R. Tolkien

• "In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit. Not a nasty, dirty, wet hole, filled with the ends of worms and an oozy smell, nor yet a dry, bare, sandy hole with nothing in it to sit down on or to eat: it was a hobbit-hole, and that means comfort."
  • Opening paragraph

• "If more of us valued food and cheer and song above hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world."
  • Part of Thorin Oakenshield's last words to Bilbo Baggins
  • Source: Chapter 18