Bilbo Baggins says “Not all those who wander are lost” in J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Fellowship of the Ring.
The line appears in the poem “The Riddle of Strider,” which is presented in the chapter “The Council of Elrond.” Bilbo wrote the poem about Aragorn, although the words are often incorrectly attributed directly to Aragorn because they describe his hidden identity and wandering life.
The complete passage begins with “All that is gold does not glitter” and ends with “Renewed shall be blade that was broken, / The crownless again shall be king.” These lines give clues about Aragorn’s heritage, his long travels, the reforging of the sword Narsil, and his eventual kingship.
The quotation has become one of Tolkien’s most widely repeated lines. Modern usage often treats it as a general statement about travel and unconventional lives, while its original context is a character portrait of Aragorn written by Bilbo. The poem is included in the first volume of The Lord of the Rings.