Quotes that make me pause

I'm reading "The Fellowship of the Ring" to Mark (and usually Matthew, too, though it's officially to Mark, so hopefully I can read it to Matthew again in a couple of years). We finished "The Hobbit" right around Christmas, and he was so excited that he wanted to start "The Fellowship" right away. This is another story rich in truths, if one is willing to read and "listen." Mrs. Burns, my high school British Lit. teacher would be so proud.

So, we just finished chapter three, "Three Is Company" in which Frodo meets both the Black Riders and Gildor of the High Elves. (A part of the book that the movies don't do justice to in any way, btw, as much as I loved the movies.) Gildor makes two statements that I believe are important for our lives as Christians. They may be referring to the Black Riders and what's happening in the story, but I believe that even Tolkein was trying to say something profound about how we as Christians engage the culture around us (Being in the world but not of it). Be careful not to take these statements lightly, or blow them off. They are important.

"The wide world is all about you: you can fence yourselves in, but you cannot for ever fence it out."

Then, a little later...

"Is it not enough to know that they are servants of the Enemy?... Flee them! Speak no words to them! They are deadly."

(The Apostle Paul said something similar to Timothy about fleeing youthful lusts.)

Thoughts from the reader?