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

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

“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

“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

“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

“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

“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

“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

“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

“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

“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

“I grow when I’m shrinking,
My light’s most bright
when I’m sinking.
I’m nourished by my emptiness,
In a hollow space,
I find my bliss.
Who am I?”
― Monica Laura Rapeanu, Mind-Bending Riddles Inspired by Philosophy | With Answers and Explanations | Philosophical Riddles | Philosophy in Rhymes : From Plato, Socrates, Lao Tzu, the Stoics, Epicurus, Buddhism, Rumi

“I touch them all,
But stay in none.
I’m forever here,
Yet forever gone.
Who am I?”
― Monica Laura Rapeanu, Mind-Bending Riddles Inspired by Philosophy | With Answers and Explanations | Philosophical Riddles | Philosophy in Rhymes : From Plato, Socrates, Lao Tzu, the Stoics, Epicurus, Buddhism, Rumi

“I am you,
but I don’t have your name.
I hold you,
though you think you hold me.
I wander,
yet I’m always home.
I’m only one, but not alone.
Who am I?”
― Monica Laura Rapeanu, Mind-Bending Riddles Inspired by Philosophy | With Answers and Explanations | Philosophical Riddles | Philosophy in Rhymes : From Plato, Socrates, Lao Tzu, the Stoics, Epicurus, Buddhism, Rumi

“I defy darkness, and I define it.
I lead you to the infinite.
I guide you out
of what you think you are,
Cut through the veils,
I take you to the stars.
Who am I?”
― Monica Laura Rapeanu, Mind-Bending Riddles Inspired by Philosophy | With Answers and Explanations | Philosophical Riddles | Philosophy in Rhymes : From Plato, Socrates, Lao Tzu, the Stoics, Epicurus, Buddhism, Rumi

“I am the dance where halves dissolve,
The stillness where things evolve.
I am a drop, and the ocean too,
A song unsung, yet heard in you.
I am the hunter and the prey,
The night that swallows
the birth of day.
Who am I?”
― Monica Laura Rapeanu, Mind-Bending Riddles Inspired by Philosophy | With Answers and Explanations | Philosophical Riddles | Philosophy in Rhymes : From Plato, Socrates, Lao Tzu, the Stoics, Epicurus, Buddhism, Rumi

“I conquer you without a fight,
I steal your strength, but grant you light.
I make you fall, yet help you rise,
I wound your heart to open your eyes.
I take your ground, I make you switch
I ask for all, yet leave you rich,
I am the loss that feels like gain,
The quiet joy inside your pain.
Who am I?”
― Monica Laura Rapeanu, Mind-Bending Riddles Inspired by Philosophy | With Answers and Explanations | Philosophical Riddles | Philosophy in Rhymes : From Plato, Socrates, Lao Tzu, the Stoics, Epicurus, Buddhism, Rumi

“Fear is my mother, reason my guide,
In danger I grow,
with strength by my side.
I rise not by shouting,
but through steady will,
Facing the storm,
I stand firm and still.
Who am I?”
― Monica Laura Rapeanu, Mind-Bending Riddles Inspired by Philosophy | With Answers and Explanations | Philosophical Riddles | Philosophy in Rhymes : From Plato, Socrates, Lao Tzu, the Stoics, Epicurus, Buddhism, Rumi

“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

“Why is a raven like a writing desk?”
― Meg Shaffer, The Wishing Game

“در واقع از وقتی مری به میسلتویت آمده بود، چهار احساس خوشایند به او دست داده بود: حس کرده بود که زبان سینه سرخ را می فهمد و او هم زبان مری را می فهمد. در باد آن قدر می دوید که جریان خونش سریع و بدنش گرم می شد. برای اولین بار در عمرش احساس گرسنگی کرد که دال بر سلامتی مزاجش بود و همچنین درک کرد که به خاطر کسی محزون بودن چه معنی دارد.”
― Francis Hodgson Burnett, The Secret Garden