“Not all those who wander are lost” is a well-known quote, but who said (or wrote) it? In this case, it was JRR Tolkien. It’s part of a 4-line poem in his work, “The Lord of the Rings,” in the first book of the trilogy, titled “The Fellowship of the Ring.” This poem also includes another line – more well-known, and almost always misquoted.

The entire poem is:

All that is gold does not glitter,
Not all those who wander are lost;
The old that is strong does not wither,
Deep roots are not reached by the frost.

So, as you may guess, the first line is the one that is almost always misquoted as “Not all that glitters is gold.” And while that is true, it’s meaning – that not everything that looks good, is good – is completely opposite from the correct line. The meaning of the correct line is that not everthing that is good, looks good.

That’s my interpretation. Yours may differ. And that’s okay.