Quote by J.R.R. Tolkien: “The Hobbit was a children's story, and I am not a children's author.”

This quote expresses Tolkien's perspective on *The Hobbit* as an accidental children's book, while he saw his larger literary aspirations as reaching beyond that genre. It reveals his self-perception as a serious myth-maker.

Written in a letter following the immense success of *The Lord of the Rings*, Tolkien clarified his authorial intent. He was often asked about the genre of his works, and he sought to distinguish his deeper mythological aims from simple children's literature.

English writer, poet, philologist, and academic, best known as the author of the high fantasy works The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. He served as the Rawlinson and Bosworth Professor of Anglo-Saxon at the University of Oxford.