It is the way of my people to use light words at such times and say less than they mean. We fear to say too much. It robs us of the right words when a jest is out of place.

Leave him! I said. I never mean to. I am going with him, if he climbs to the Moon; and if any of these Black Riders try to stop him, they'll have Sam Gamgee to reckon with, I said. They laughed.

Oh! That was poetry!" said Pippin. "Do you really mean to start before the break of day?

We are never late. We arrive precisely when we mean to.

please don't cook me, kind sirs! I am a good cook myself, and cook better than I cook, if you see what I mean.

Without the high and noble the simple and vulgar is utterly mean; and without the simple and ordinary the noble and heroic is meaningless