In Memoriam - Quote Graveyard

[Estelyn Telcontar]

I enjoy reading everyone’s signature quotes, but there is one problem – when the signature is changed, it changes on all past posts as well. Now I realize it’s time to change mine (it is somewhat long!), but I’ve grown rather attached to it. (Besides, I promised Kuruharan a bit of immortality for his balrog wing amendment on my quote!) So I would like to collect signature quotes here; before you throw your old quote into the Timeless Void, please turn it into a message and place it here to ensure that it will be remembered as long as the Barrow-Downs lives - pardon me, remains dead! [img]smilies/wink.gif[/img]

Here’s mine: RIP!

“Mercy!“, cried Gandalf. “If the giving of information is to be the cure of your inquisitiveness, I shall spend all the rest of my days in answering you. What more do you want to know?” “The names of all the stars, and of all living things, and the whole history of Middle-earth and Over-heaven and of the Sundering Seas,” laughed Pippin. “Of course! What less? But I am not in a hurry tonight.”

“The time has come,” the Walrus said, “to talk of many things:
Of shoes – and ships – and sealing-wax – of cabbages – and kings –
And why the sea is boiling hot – and whether balrogs have wings.” Lewis Carroll (amended by Kuruharan)

[ October 15, 2002: Message edited by: Estelyn Telcontar ]

yes... just like posts....
i only put my nicks thats all but others put stuff of the book that ill maybe do...
some times the sigatures are longer than the post! [img]smilies/biggrin.gif[/img] [img]smilies/evil.gif[/img]

[Lush]

Why do I have a feeling the Barrow-Wight is about to bury this thread? [img]smilies/wink.gif[/img]

For what it's worth, here are a few of mine that I enjoyed using.

I'm not young enough to know everything. -Oscar Wilde

Far too dark in Mines of Moria to brush hair properly. Am very afraid I am developing a tangle.

Orcs so silly.

Still the prettiest.
-The Very Secret Diary of Legolas.

Here's a sigh to those who love me,
And a smile to those who hate.
And whatever sky's above me,
Here's a heart for every fate.
-Lord Byron.

[Shadowfax Clawson]

Just for the record, and in case I ever change mine (change is inevitable, after all) I'll rest assured that it's immortalized here:

"In buying a horse or taking a wife, shut your eyes tight and commend yourself to God."
-Tuscan proverb

Quaint, un-Tolkien related, and proverbial, I'm sure it won't be around for long.

Incidentaly, I think my icon is better than Sharku's, being more colorful and an original piece by me. Ha, take that, Sharku. (e-mail me if you want to borrow some of my artwork for your very own icon!)

[ March 31, 2002: Message edited by: Shadowfax Clawson ]

[Sharkû]

being [...] an original piece by me

So is mine, ha!
-- Sharkû, Photography Artist Extraordinaire

[Shadowfax Clawson]

Well, I still think mine is cooler. I used 6 different artistic mediums to create it. Perhaps I'll make a new, grander, even more ostentatious icon for future smiting.

[zifnab]

I would have to agree on "Sharkey's is better" just for the simple reason of, "You can actually see his". [img]smilies/wink.gif[/img]


Here is my old sig, I laid down to rest.

"'Don't meddle in the affairs of wizards,' he said in lofty tones, "for they are subtle and quick to anger.' A fellow sorcerer said that. Good at his job, knew alot about jewelry. Not bad at fireworks, either. Wasn't the snappy dresser Merlin was, though. Let's see, whats his name? Raist--no, that was the irritating young chap, kept hacking and spitting up blood all the time. Disgusting. The other's name was Gand-something or other..."

[ April 08, 2002: Message edited by: zifnab ]

[Thingol]

I can't see myself changing my singnature, but just in case here it is:

Yet the lies that Melkor, the mighty and accursed, Morgoth Bauglir, the Power of Terror and of Hate, sowed in the hearts of Elves and Men are a seed that does not die and cannot be destroyed; and ever and anon it sprouts anew, and will bear dark fruit even unto the latest days.

I really like the new quote Ziffy.

[zifnab]

Thanks Thingol.

[Lush]

Here I am depositing a truly great quote (especially if you are familiar with Bob's persona):

I'm not angry. I'm a delightful sort of person. -Bob Dylan.

[Estelyn Telcontar]

Here lies my second signature:

You had nothing to say... and yet made the nothing up into words. C.S.Lewis, Perelandra

[Rimbaud]

Lo, even Stephanos lays down the most concise of signatures...

'All is vanity' - Ecclesiastes

May my notice of narcissism lay here in peace. Thank you and good night, quiet stars.

[Rimbaud]

They are dropping like the proverbial flies this week. Although I believe this latest addition to be "Not Dead, Only Sleeping".

Life is the farce which everyone has to perform ~ Arthur Rimbaud.

[Nevtalathiel]

I'll deposit my "resting" sig here too, just so I don't forget it [img]smilies/smile.gif[/img]

But she does not weep for herself; and those who harken to her learn pity, and endurance and hope.

[ April 26, 2002: Message edited by: Nevtalathiel ]

[Lush]

Well, here goes this gem:

Being natural is simply a pose, and the most irritating pose I know...-Oscar Wilde.

Rest in peace.

[Kuruharan]

Besides, I promised Kuruharan a bit of immortality for his balrog wing amendment on my quote!

Yes, I had noticed that my immortality had proven to be a bit mortal. Oh well, it builds character. And now I'm immortalized in a thread.

[Gayahithwen]

Ok, I've changed my signature partly, so the part that got cut out will now R.I.P. here..

"Aurë entuluva!
Day shall come again!"

"Utúlie'n aurë! Aiya Eldalië ar Atanatári, utúlie'n aurë!
The day has come! Behold, people of the Eldar and Fathers of Men, the day has come!"

As you may have noticed I posted the entire sig.. Not to confuse anybody..

[QuickSlash]

"'Don't meddle in the affairs of wizards,' he said in lofty tones, "for they are subtle and quick to anger.' A fellow sorcerer said that. Good at his job, knew alot about jewelry. Not bad at fireworks, either. Wasn't the snappy dresser Merlin was, though. Let's see, whats his name? Raist--no, that was the irritating young chap, kept hacking and spitting up blood all the time. Disgusting. The other's name was Gand-something or other..."

zifnag, I remember that, but I'm not sure from what.

[Rimbaud]

How the mighty are fallen.

"I saw two shooting stars last night;
I wished on them but they were only satellites.
Is it wrong to wish on space hardware?
I wish, I wish, I wish you'd care."

~ Billy Bragg, A New England

[Aosama, the Wandering Star]

Here's my old one:
"There are no happy endings. Because nothing ends."
-The Last Unicorn
Not in the least Tolkien, yet still reminds me of him somehow. The idea that its all one big story - like Sam said, on the stairs of Cirith Ungol, about how (serious paraphrasing here) "we're in the story still! don't the tales never end?" "no, the tales themselves don't end, but the people in them come, and go when their part's ended."
I always liked that part...

[Susan Delgado]

quote:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"'Don't meddle in the affairs of wizards,' he said in lofty tones, "for they are subtle and quick to anger.' A fellow sorcerer said that. Good at his job, knew alot about jewelry. Not bad at fireworks, either. Wasn't the snappy dresser Merlin was, though. Let's see, whats his name? Raist--no, that was the irritating young chap, kept hacking and spitting up blood all the time. Disgusting. The other's name was Gand-something or other..."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

zifnag, I remember that, but I'm not sure from what

It's from Deathgate #2, Elven Star. By a char named (surprise!) Zifnab.


I've recently changed my sig, so I'll put both what it was and what it is now (so I don't have to write another entry here later [img]smilies/smile.gif[/img])

RIP, old sig
For, what with my whole world-wide wandering,
What with my search drawn out thro' years, my hope
Dwindled into a ghost not fit to cope
With that obstreperous joy success would bring,
I hardly tried now to rebuke the spring
My heart made, finding failure in its scope.
-From "Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came" by Robert Browning

"Well, what is the answer?" Bilbo said, "It's not a kettle boiling over, as you seem to think from the noise you are making"
-Bilbo to Gollum, during the riddle game


And, my current sig, which I think I'll keep for a while longer.
May those who love us, love us, and those who don't love use, may God tun their hearts, and if He cannot turn thei hearts, may He turn their ankles so that we may know them by their limping.
-Irish blessing

"We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained, we must not break our bonds of affection. The mystic cords of memory will swell when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature."
-Abraham Lincoln

[ June 13, 2002: Message edited by: Susan Delgado ]

[Naaramare]

Here I lay to rest my first sig. ^^ Twill eventually be a quote in my story, but for now, it's retired and replaced. Requiescat en pace, and so forth.

"After four thousand years, death, blood, famine, war and pain, I'm left with the simple fact that it's all worth it because I fell in love with a twenty something (although she was fifteen when we met) writer from Northern Canada, who just happens to incinerate things when angry. If that doesn't tell you the Creator has a sense of humor, I don't know what will."
--Puck, Brother Mine

And I'm adding my second sig here:

"You want to know what I realized then? I looked at him and realized I would fight, I would wound, I would kill, I would bleed, I would die and I would live for him and there was nothing I could do about it. It scared me, it shook me, but it was simple truth. It still is."
--Meredith, Brother Mine

Adding third sig now:

Ye shall be free from slavery and ye shall dance, sing, and feast. Music shall surround you, for mine is the ecstasy of the spirit, and mine is also the joy of the earth! I do not demand sacrifice! For behold, I am the Mother of all living things! Create and heal! Be strong, yet gentle. Be noble, yet reverent. Bring forth and replenish!
--The Charge of the Goddess

[ June 22, 2002: Message edited by: Naaramare ]

[ July 12, 2002: Message edited by: Naaramare ]

[Nevtalathiel]

Cutting down my sig, so goodbye "The light at the end of the tunnel is the on-coming train" I'll miss you, but since my exams are nearly over, you're not as relevant as you once were [img]smilies/confused.gif[/img]

[Belin]

So strange.. me, leaving my sig behind. It will probably be back one day, since it's one of my favorites. In the meantime, RIP.

At the end of knowledge, wisdom begins. And at the end of wisdom there is not grief, but hope. --Lloyd Alexander

My new sig may not last long, either... hmmmmmmmmm.


EDIT: I changed my sig again a few weeks ago, and didn't feel like digging up the thread. No reason to make another post, I suppose; I'll just drop it off here.

It would carry off objects of which it grew fond
And protect them by dropping them into the pond. --Edward Gorey, "The Doubtful Guest"

If I can't figure out how to add extra spaces to my current sig, it may soon join the others....

--Belin Ibaimendi

[ August 21, 2002: Message edited by: Belin ]

[Nevfeniel]

<FONT COLOR=cc98cc>"Twenty-one!" said Gimli.
"Good!" said Legolas. "But my count is now two dozen. It has been knife-work up here."
Everyone's prince will come; mine just took a wrong turn, got lost, and is too stubborn to ask for directions.
Friends are the chocolate chips in the cookie of life.

That was my old sig, now I just have a fairy.

[ June 16, 2002: Message edited by: Nevfeniel ]

[Galadrie1]

i changed my sig a while ago, but i still remember it:

"I am not a tree-root, sir"

i had that simply because it's my one of my favourite sentences in LotR, and it was the only thing i could think of when i was filling in my profile.

[ June 16, 2002: Message edited by: Galadrie1 ]

[ June 18, 2002: Message edited by: Galadrie1 ]

[dragongirlG]

Three books for the publishers under the eye
Seven for the zealists in their halls alone
Nine for paying parents doomed to buy
In the land of Tolkien where the readers lie.
One book to rule them all, one book to find them
One book to bring them all and in the darkness bind them
In the land of Tolkien where the readers lie. [img]smilies/wink.gif[/img]

Took it out of my signature because it was too long.

[mark12_30]

"... when the morning stars sang for joy."

It's actually a quote out of the bible, talking about the creation. "Morning Stars" is said by some to speak of the angels. But C. S. Lewis interpreted it literally in Magician's Nephew, when Aslan is singing and the stars appear together with silvery voices. And now, it always reminds me now of the Song of the Ainur-- which in turn reminds me of elves singing in the starlight.

What was once but an old legend has become the one desire of their hearts. And the loftiest hope is the surest of being fulfilled. --From TheCastle by George Macdonald

...It is not possible to reject or ignore God without demeaning man. --John Paul II

This one got lost in the shuffle and I just remembered it:

What are you going to do with your gift dear child?
Give life, give love, give soul?
Divided is the one who dances,
For the soul is so exposed, so exposed
--Creed

In the Lord of the Rings the conflict is not basically about freedom, though that is naturally involved. It is about God, and His sole right to divine honour. --Tolkien, Letter 183

(Frodo) cannot live with the fact that he failed the unpassable test. --Lyta_Underhill

Waves and wind and storm defying, Hurricane and tempest riding. --Lindo
I have something to do before the end; I must see it through, sir. --Sam

Mark 12_30 looks just like a hobbit... She is not very tall, not particularly slender, and has short curly hair. She smiles often and laughs even oftener. Her cheeks are red ... she has many freckles..

This one is on the way out, so I'll record it while I'm here:

Je6.16 TSTL: Stand in the ways and see, and ask for the old paths, where the good way is, and walk in it; then you will find rest for your souls.

I suppose after Caradhras comes... Moria? Uh oh.

[QuickSlash]

I recently removed the poem from mine since it was too long. I'm about to add to my sig, though. *grins*

All that is gold does not glitter,
Not all those who wander are lost;
The old that is strong does not wither,
Deep roots are not reached by the frost.

[QuickSlash]

I recently removed the poem from mine since it was too long. I just now redid the entire thing. Here's my old one:

AIM me: BulbaPk or CTHandSM
All that is gold does not glitter,
Not all those who wander are lost;
The old that is strong does not wither,
Deep roots are not reached by the frost.
"The centre of me is always and eternally a terrible pain." -Bertrand Russell
"There is no great genius without some touch of madness."-Lucius Annaeus Seneca
Best wishes and tasty fishes until we meet again my friend!

[ June 18, 2002: Message edited by: QuickSlash ]

[Estelyn Telcontar]

A change of mood has made me decide it's time to change my quote. Here's the old one:

His grief he will not forget; but it will not darken his heart, it will teach him wisdom.

(That was Gandalf, speaking of Pippin)

The new one has to do with the origin of my chosen name.

[ArwenBaggins]

when i first registered, i had

I Amar Prestar Aen. Han Mathon Ne Nen. Han Mathon Ne Chae. A Han Nostron Ned Wilith.

then it was

Tiro! Tiro! El Eria E Mor!

then the ring poem in Elvish {yah know: three rings for the Elven Kings....}

Finnaly, I have what i have now. A Faerie.

[Susan Delgado]

I just cut my sig down; this is what i eliminated:

May those who love us, love us, and those who don't love us, may God turn their hearts, and if He cannot turn their hearts, may He turn their ankles so that we may know them by their limping.
-Irish blessing

[The Squatter of Amon Rûdh]

Edit: I have amalgamated all of my discarded signatures into one post for neatness' sake. Enjoy perusing, and feel free to lift them for your own use. I never use the same sig twice.

In Memoriam

In order to conform with the welcome new forum regulations I've selected a shorter signature quotation. I hereby commit the body of the old one to this thread. Rest in peace, old friend.

If no other knowledge deserves to be called useful but that which helps to enlarge our possessions or to raise our station in society, then Mythology has no claim to the appellation. But if that which tends to make us happier and better can be called useful, then we claim that epithet for our subject. For Mythology is the handmaid of literature; and literature is one of the best allies of virtue and promoters of happiness.

Thomas Bulfinch, from the author’s preface to The Age of Fable

--

It's been a while since I changed my signature, so it's time to bid farewell to Herbert Asquith on the futility of war:

Is this a kingdom? Then give Death the crown,
For here no emperor hath won, save He.

Sanctuary Wood, 1917

--

It's time to lay this one to rest with its fellows.

So men flicker and in the mirk go out.
The world withers and the wind rises;
the candles are quenched. Cold falls the night.

I presume the author needs no introduction.

--

Although I used it for such a short time this quotation is by no means lower in my esteem than the others.

As certain as the sun behind the Downs
And quite as plain to see, the Devil walks.

Sir John Betjeman - Original Sin on the Sussex Coast

The twentieth century makes way for the third as Owen makes way for Terentianus Maurus.

I went hunting wild
After the wildest beauty in the world

And in the natural course of things, Terentianus Maurus makes way for a rather more famous writer. Therefore his words of wisdom are set here for posterity:

Pro captu lectoris habent sua fata libelli

In other words, "The fate of books depends on the capacity of the reader" - very apt, I thought, for a Tolkien forum.

--

This one was struck down by a sudden change of mood before its time:

The world wept then, as it weeps today:
you can hear the tears through the harp's twanging.
JRRT

--
This little gem has only been supplanted by Juvenal's definition that just about sums up the world as we know it.

"Through clouds, over chimneys and corn-fields yellow,
We'll dance and laugh at the red-nosed grave-digger,
Who dreams not that Death is so merry a fellow." - Thomas Lovell Beddoes

--

A new forum merits a new signature. I lay the old one in the family vault.

Difficile est saturam non scribere - Juvenal

("It is difficult not to write satire")

--

Time, like an ever-flowing stream, bears all my sigs away. This nationalistic gem sums up an unsavoury national opinion in a nutshell.

To be born English is to win first prize in the lottery of life - Cecil Rhodes

--

Dante has made way for a local boy. The quotation's brilliant, though, and I'm sure that Tolkien must have liked it too.

E quindi uscimmo a rivider le stelle

("Thence we came forth to see the stars again")

--

I like Edgar's 'Poor Tom' act as much as the next heartless sadist, but when I found W.P. Ker's translation from a line in Hamthesmol, it just had to go.

"The prince of darkness is a gentleman." King Lear III, iv

--

Hamthesmol in translation makes way for an unfamiliar version of a familiar story. Blame my new linguistic studies for this change.

We have won good fame, though we die to-day or to-morrow: no man lives out the eventide when the word of the Norns is spoken

Old Lay of Hamther, tr. W.P. Ker

--

Once again we Britons are set to choose which gang of criminal incompetents will lead us for the next few years, so some very new Old English makes way for some rather more apposite old English Latin.

"MMD Hér þurh searucræftas aþóhton and beworhton þá Nold-ielfe gimmas missenlice, 7 Féanor Noldena hláford worhte þá Silmarillas, þæt wæron Eorclanstánas." Godéðles géargetæl

--

And continuing the trend of signatures in other languages, one English scholar makes way for a later one.

"Nec audiendi qui solent dicere, Vox populi, vox Dei, quum tumultuositas vulgi semper insaniae proxima sit" Alcuin

In other words: "Nor should they be listened to who only say "The voice of the people, the voice of God," for the turbulence of the rabble is always close to insanity."

--
It's a good proverb, but it had to go in the end. I'm restoring my old habit of turning Wilfred Owen quotes into links.

”Man dēþ swā hē byþ þonne hē mōt swā hē wile”
"A person does as he is when he may do as he will" - Durham Proverb XIV

--

Well, nobody can stand war poetry for too long, so I've replaced Wilfred with a spot of aimless humour. Here's the defunct quote again

Through the dense din, I say, we heard him shout
'I see your lights!' But ours had long died out.

--

This wasn't the best of my signatures, but it's the only one that I invented. I've replaced it with something rather more polished.

In 2005 alone, more than three-million people worldwide developed a taste for semolina. Despite continued medical research, a cure has yet to be found.

--

The time has come to replace Oscar Wilde with something else, so this quotation is going to its long home.

"And the young man looked up and recognised Him and made answer, 'But I was dead once and you raised me from the dead. What else should I do but weep?'" - Oscar Wilde

--
I think it's time to abandon my Latin silliness. Here let it remain for posterity.

Caesar aderat forte/ Pompey adsum jam
Caesar sic in omnibus/ Pompey sic intram

--

Tolkien rolls in his grave as I replace an Old English elegy with something French. C'est la vie.

Hwilum ylfete song
dyde ic me to gomene, ganetes hleoþor
ond huilpan sweg fore hleahtor wera,
mæw singende fore medodrince.
The Seafarer ll. 19-21

"At times I took the swan's song for my entertainment; the gannet's racket and the curlew's sound in place of the laughter of men; the gulls' singing in place of mead-drinking."

[Nevtalathiel]

I guess I've just got bored of this one, I still really like it, but I wanted Al Capone's quote in my sig and quite like it only being one line.

I'm never wrong. I thought I was once but I was mistaken

Maybe I will resurrect you when I feel the need.

[Brinniel]

I cut my sig down to only one quote. Here's the one I lay down to rest:

"If you judge people, you have no time to love them."
-Mother Teresa

[Gorothlammothiel]

Mine was nothing special but here it is anyway....

Why? Why should I know these things you ask me? I live this age day by day and learn more each day as you do. And when the new age comes? I will not know no more about that than I did of this one when it first came.

[HerenIstarion]

well, if i can recollect all of them
(un chronological order):

...things might have been different, but they could not have been better...


...but what they are really like, or what lies beyond them, only those can tell, who have climbed them...


Less doth yearning trouble him who knoweth many songs, or with his hands can touch the harp: his possession is his gift of glee which God gave him.

<font color= "red">Beware of the wights if your path leads that way
<font color= "red">Anger lurks here where is no trace of day
<font color= "red">Roaming souls of the vagabond world
<font color= "red">Raging in Darkness under skies ever cold
<font color= "red">Over the valley and under the hill
<font color= "red">Wraiths walk abroad, host of fear and thrill
<font color= "red">Deadly their eyes, greenish burning within
<font color= "red">Oath to keep, cracking bones and no skin
<font color= "red">Woven are spells of the powerful word
<font color= "red">Never to fail, be unbroken their sword…
<font color= "red">So, beware of the wights on the <A HREF="http://www.barrowdowns.com" TARGET=_blank><font color= "red">Barrow-Downs</A> way!


O! Water cold we may pour at need
down a thirsty throat and be glad indeed;
but better is Beer, if drink we lack,
and Water Hot poured down the back


that's all, methinks [img]smilies/smile.gif[/img]

[ August 20, 2002: Message edited by: HerenIstarion ]

[ August 20, 2002: Message edited by: HerenIstarion ]

[ August 20, 2002: Message edited by: HerenIstarion ]

[ August 20, 2002: Message edited by: HerenIstarion ]

[Ithaeliel]

I laith here to rest my former signatures.

1) "Ai! Laurie lantar lassi surinen, yeni unotime ve ramar aldaron!"

2) "Don't be humble. You're not that great."
-Golda Meir, ruler of India

3) My beloved black-haired exotic dancer fairy...

4) "Notwithstanding, we'll make millions writing books on the way it should have been."
-Incubus, "Warning"

5) And the final quote, which I now shall lay to rest:

"My only conclusion is that I have no conclusions."

Here's one that would have been here, but I never got a chance to put it in:

"What's the point of having your cake if you can't eat it?"

[ August 20, 2002: Message edited by: Ithaeliel ]

[Gimli Son Of Gloin]

My old sig.

Nothin' gets atchya like a baked possum- unless there're two!

I nice little quote. I forget where I got it from, so I might have taken it from some's sig without noticing, sorry if I did.

The only proof that there is intelligant life elsewhere is that it hasn't tried to visit us.
One of my favorites.

Don't throw a brick straight up.

May the Force be With You...
Don't sweat petty things, don't pet sweaty things.

[ July 10, 2003: Message edited by: Gimli Son Of Gloin ]