To Simonne d’Ardenne.

March 13, 1936.

“The political situation is dreadful… I have the greatest sympathy with Belgium — which is about the right size of any country! I wish my own were bounded still by the seas of the Tweed and the walls of Wales… we folk do at least know something of mortality and eternity and when Hitler (or a Frenchman) says ‘Germany (or France) must live forever’ we know that he lies.”

From “The Tolkien Family Album,” page 69.