Riddle Quotes

“It cannot be seen, cannot be felt,
Cannot be heard, cannot be smelt,
It lies behind stars and under hills,
And empty holes it fills,
It comes first and follows after,
Ends life, kills laughter.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Hobbit, or There and Back Again

“This thing all things devours:
Birds, beasts, trees, flowers;
Gnaws iron, bites steel;
Grinds hard stones to meal;
Slays king, ruins town,
And beats high mountain down.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Hobbit, or There and Back Again

“Why is a raven like a writing-desk?”
― Marissa Meyer, Heartless

“A box without hinges, key, or lid,
Yet golden treasure inside is hid.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Hobbit, or There and Back Again

“Alive without breath,
As cold as death;
Never thirsty, ever drinking,
All in mail never clinking.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Hobbit, or There and Back Again

“Q: What's the difference between an enzyme and a hormone?

A: You can't hear an enzyme.”
― Dorothy Parker

“What have I got in my pocket?" he said aloud. He was talking to himself, but Gollum thought it was a riddle, and he was frightfully upset.
"Not fair! not fair!" he hissed. "It isn't fair, my precious, is it, to ask us what it's got in it's nassty little pocketsess?”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Hobbit, or There and Back Again

“Life may be an arcane riddle, a play with many complementary acts or an unfinished chronicle with odd sequences. Still and all, whatever we might think or do, let us above all be attentive and expectant, since everyone is waiting for the pieces to fall into place, at one time or another. ("Drunken sailor" )”
― Erik Pevernagie

“If it’s zero degrees outside today and it’s supposed to be twice as cold tomorrow, how cold is it going to be?”
― Steven Wright

“Oh, what is brighter than the light?
What is darker than the night?
What is keener than an axe?
What is softer than melting wax?

Truth is brighter than the light,
Falsehood darker than the night.
Revenge is keener than an axe,
And love is softer than melting wax.”
― Cassandra Clare, Clockwork Princess

“Communism is the riddle of history solved, and it knows itself to be this solution.”
― karl marx, Economic & Philosophic Manuscripts of 1844

“The answer to this riddle has a hole in the middle,
And some have been known to fall in it.
In tennis it's nothing, but it can be received,
And sometimes a person may win it.
Though not seen or heard it may be perceived,
Like princes or bees it's in clover.
The answer to this riddle has a hole in the middle,
And without it one cannot start over.”
― Trenton Lee Stewart, The Mysterious Benedict Society and the Prisoner's Dilemma

“Stronger than iron
crueler than death
sweeter than springtime
it lives beyond breath”
― Juliet Marillier, Cybele's Secret

“10/30/38
Where do you look for someone who's never really there?
Always on a staircase but never on a stair”
― Maureen Johnson, Truly, Devious

“The answer to your first riddle,” I told him. “If yes is no and once is never,
then the number of sides a triangle has… is… two.” I drew out my reply, not
bothering to explain how I’d arrived at my answer”
― Jennifer Lynn Barnes, The Inheritance Games

“Polyphemus stiffened. "Who said that?"

"Nobody!" Annabeth yelled.

That got exactly the reaction she'd been hoping for. The monster's face turned red with rage.

"Nobody!" Polyphemus yelled back. "I remember you!"

"You're too stupid to remember anybody," Annabeth taunted. "Much less Nobody.”
― Rick Riordan, The Sea of Monsters

“Live in the moment... but don't be led by the moment, or the people who belong to it.”
― J. Aleksandr Wootton, Her Unwelcome Inheritance

“Silver hidden in the gold,
Young man hidden in the old,
Laughing lord with weeping eyes,
Bring king and ring before sunrise!
-Hilarion, The Great and Terrible Quest”
― Margaret Lovett, The Great and Terrible Quest

“The danger of touch is the cruel beauty of a moment gone too fast and burned into the skin”
― Jennifer Lynn Barnes, The Grandest Game

“I never talk back. I listen and always remember your every word, so come pen or mouse, never forget that I will treasure your thoughts forever. Yours truly, Paper.”
― L.M. Fields

“What can promote innocent mirth, and I may say virtue, more than a good riddle?”
― George Eliot, Middlemarch

“"Lost is kingdom with many paths, but they all end at the same place. Do you know where?"
I bit back a sigh, because now that the novelty was wearing off, the stranger was beginning to grate on me. "I imagine you mean Faerie. The kingdom of the lost, it is called in some of the oldest tales. Rather poetic, isn't it? But most likely it simply refers to the habit the Folk have of leading careless mortals astray."
He blinked at me, this strange apparition of a man, and for a moment he looked almost sane.
"You just might do it," he murmured after a pause. "A silly child with her hair all in tangles.”
― Heather Fawcett, Emily Wilde’s Map of the Otherlands

“I would never say it- never let her hear that, even if she killed me. And if it was to be my downfall, so be it. If it would be the weakness that would break me, I would embrace it with all my heart. If this was-

For though each of my strikes lands a powerful blow,
When I kill, I do it slow...

That's what these three months had been- a slow, horrible death. What I felt for Tamlin was the cause of this. There was no cure- not pain, or absence, or happiness.

But scorned, I become a difficult beast to defeat.

She could torture me all she liked, but it would never destroy what I felt for him. It would never make Tamlin want her- never ease the sting of his rejection.

The world became dark at the borders of my vision, taking the edge off the pain.

But I bless all those who are brave enough to dare.

For so long, I had run from it. But opening myself to him, to my sisters- that had been a test of bravery as harrowing as any of my trials.

'Say it, you vile beast!' Amarantha hissed. She might have lied her way out of our bargain, but she'd sworn differently with the riddle- instantaneous freedom, regardless of her will.

Blood filled my mouth, warm as it dribbled out between my lips. I gazed at Tamlin's masked face one last time.

'Love,' I breathed, the word crumbling into a blackness with no end. A pause in Amarantha's magic. 'The answer to the riddle....' I got out, choking on my own blood, 'is... love.'

Tamlin's eyes went wide before something forever cracked in my spine.”
― Sarah J. Maas, A Court of Thorns and Roses

“My face is full, but also slight, I pale in the bright of light, I whisper sweet to the forest owl, I kiss the air with Wolf's sad howl, Eyes follow me from sea to sea, Yet alone in this world... I will ever be.”
― Mary E. Pearson, Dance of Thieves

“To my garden I thee hie---
For soon all summer's beauties die;
For lasting gems, for future frock
Seek not the soaring bee---
Look down!----the rock.”
― Jeanette Lynes, The Apothecary's Garden

“A wolf is wearing a collar with a six-foot metal chain. Ten feet away, there is a chicken pen with chickens inside. The wolf manages to kill all the chickens. How?”
― R.P. Jones, Chrysalis

“That's when she saw the black ink strokes, underlining four words of the poem: Door. Veil. Thee. Me. And in a flash, the code to the sultan's combination lockbox flew into her mind. D V J S.
Door. Veil. Jasmine. Sultan... or sultana.
Even though the meaning was still opaque, even though she still hadn't the slightest clue which door or veil her father was trying to draw her toward, something lifted in her chest as she looked at the words. Hope. He was still talking to her, communicating with her, even from another plane.
"As above, so below," she whispered.”
― Alexandra Monir, Realm of Wonders

“Dear adventurer,

I am currently writing the second tome of MystiqRealms: The blood stone.
No reason that only Jessica, Sarah and Louis enjoy some riddles so go to my website and there you will find one for you. Solve it, and the gates to a secret space will swing open for you. But I must warn you that will not be easy, far from it.
You may win a signed copy of the next MystiqRealms book.
Happy hunting!”
― M.R. Barrault

“Look at my face and I am someone,' she whispered in his ear. 'Look at my back and I am no one. Who am I?'

'I don't know,' Oak admitted, a shiver running between his shoulders.

'Your mirror, HIghness,' she said, her breath tickling the hairs on his neck.

And then she slipped away.”
― Holly Black, The Prisoner’s Throne

“I was born, yes. But to suffer and gain nothing. Just a life full of misery and torment.”
― Mitta Xinindlu