I am in fact a Hobbit (in all but size). I like gardens, trees and unmechanized farmlands; I smoke a pipe, and like good plain food … I go to bed late and get up late (when possible).

—J.R.R. Tolkien (excerpted from The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien, #213)

The fire’s very cosy here, and the food’s good. What more could one want?

—Bilbo talking about Rivendell from The Return of the King

If more of us valued food and cheer and song above hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world.

—Thorin on his deathbed in The Hobbit