“Always after a defeat and a respite, the Shadow takes another shape and grows again.”

–spoken by Gandalf to Frodo in The Fellowship of the Ring, by J.R.R. Tolkien

 

“I wish it need not have happened in my time,” said Frodo.

“So do I, “said Gandalf, “and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us. And already, Frodo, our time is beginning to look black. The Enemy is fast becoming very strong. His plans are far from ripe, I think, but they are ripening. We shall be hard put to it.”